Bi-dimensional Shenanigans
by Op3ratic
Summary: It's a story, or a game revolving around three people. Or, for some, two. The author has been planning this for so long but even she doesn't know how it will end. All the pieces are in place, now it just needs a little push. The real question, however; who will win?
1. Chapter 1

IMPORTANT NOTE: I, Op3ratic, did not write this fic. This fic belongs to a great friend of mine that is in complete denial of her wonderful writing skills and asked me to upload it for her. Without any ad-due, let's continue with the fic, shall we?

Chapter one: Of ghost girls, checkers, and forests.

Just another boring day. Guard the prisoners. Piss off Karkat. Avoid the Princess. Ignore the humans that only you could see. Fight off monsters. Corral the escapees. Shoot hypotheticals with Terezi. Try not to get culled.

You're name is BETHANY BOSTEDER, you live in the WORLD OF TROLLS but you are not a TROLL. In fact you'd rather DIE than be one. You are an OMEGA, which you've learned to be a sort of MUTATED HUMAN/TROLL THING. Your kismesis is KARKAT VANTAS and you had a short flushed-fling with ERIDAN AMPORA that you really wished never happened. You and other outcasts have been sent to this SHITTY PRISON to guard it. You're pretty sure that HER CONDESCE only sent you few here to KEEP YOU OUT OF THE WAY and MAKE AN EXAMPLE out of you. You're honestly surprised you haven't been CULLED yet due to your VIOLENT BEHAVIOR and OBVIOUS DEFORMITIES. You are BETHANY BOSTEDER, and you're bored out of your fucking mind.

You stab your mandatory weapon, a spear that's totally not taller than you are, into the ground then sort of lean/nap on it for a bit, letting you're glasses that you need but don't care about slide down your nose. Well you would have but then you felt someone staring at you. You opened your eyes to glare daggers at whoever was eye-balling you, to find somewhat translucent ones staring back at you. Oh, it's her again. That weird human girl that always seems to know where you are.

You know all the tales of humans, they're pathetic beings that have dozens of morails, with weird skin and hair colors, no claws, no horns, not even fangs! Even though you don't have horns or actual claws. But you do have sort if sharp fangs, sort of black curly/wavy hair, sort of grey skin, and shut up. The point is that humans are a blight on the planet and nothing more.

You always wondered why they weren't more substantial though. They're just like... funky mist, or something. Always walking through buildings and fences like there's nothing there. The muted light of the perpetually setting sun always shining on them through the mass of clouds, even in the shadows and at night! Like they're fucking luminescent but the lights coming from around them not from them. Weirdest part is how no one but you seem to notice them, and no one but the chick who's still staring at you seems to notice the trolls. Not even Terezi knows they're there with her weird licking and smelling thing!

You take a quick look around to make sure no one can hear you. The only ones you see in the immediate area are humans that don't know you're there anyway.

"Who are you and what the fuck do you want?" You quietly ask the girl with a half growl in your voice. She steps back out of fear, you guess, then she backs off completely and ignores you again.

Well you can get some sleep now without her staring at you like you're Equius in one of Kanaya's dresses. Oh, fuck, now that is a disgusting visual.

Wait. No. You were supposed to do something. Something important. Something to ensure you're survival through the day.  
Oh right, playing checkers with Terezi. Of course remembering it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you are being pegged in the head with checkers, nothing at all.

You sigh and take your spear out of the ground. You pick up the pieces she threw at you and began walking over to her. Damn girl has got one hell of an arm to be able to throw so far. But other than the saliva covered pieces and the fact that you always spectacularly lose, your weekly game with Terezi isn't all that bad. Since she still has some influence with Vriska she can keep you out of her half-assed manipulation frenzy, that you're not worried about being in at all. It's not a bad trade off in the end.

When you, finally, get over to her she's as excited as a freaking dog. You can't stand dogs.

"Bethany! You're late!" she yells at you when you get in range. You stop and rub your ears because fuck you're sensitive hearing and her shrill voice.

"Yeah yeah yeah. Get over your self Terezi it's not like this stupid game is even important. I'm just bored enough to go along with it and your obsession with winning." You half lie knowing she'll catch it and not caring.

"Oh so you're just bored enough EVERY WEEK?" she says with that fucking smile that just screams "extreme sadist, right here!"

"Yes," you reply as you take a seat and set up the pieces, she's red you're black. Always. "Now are we gonna play this stupid game or can I go back to napping?"

"Napping? Is THAT what you were doing? Well it SOUNDED like you were talking to someone." She said and oh gog she's playing Legislacerator again. Trying to find the guilty and punish them. You begin the game and idly wonder how she hasn't made herself deaf as well as blind with her freakish senses and loud high-pitched voice.

You point behind you to where you KNOW that human is watching you again like the creepy stalker chick she is. "Hey Terezi, what do you see over there?" You ask just to reassure your self that you are, in fact, bat-shit crazy. She rolls her eyes behind her pointy red glasses, you think, and "looks" to where the human is, "looks" right at her.

She says "There's nothing there Beth! The only thing that was over there all day was you!" in a slightly annoyed yet excited tone. But then again, she always seems excited for no good reason. Just another reason she annoys the crap out of you. But you need her, so you act like you don't give a fuck.

"Exactly, so who the fuck would I be talking to?" You say, somewhat rubbing it in that you verbally bested her once again. But she can't see the girl, who is obviously a figment of your imagination, which proves that you're losing more than just this game of checkers.

She pouts a bit before taking one of your pieces that you stupidly put in danger. She licks it, either claiming it as her own, enjoying the taste which is apparently black licorice which you don't really care for, or just succeeding in grossing you out. Though you'd never let her know it you feel a bit of vomit coming up at the sight. Motherfucking trolls and their personality quirks.

A few moves later you have one piece and she's toying with you. This is what you get for rubbing in a win. You claimed a total of three pieces and fuck hasn't this been dragged out long enough? You feel like smacking her, but you need her, so you just sigh and claim another slimy piece she practically gave to you on a silver fucking platter.

It used to be a weekly chess game, but she loved to win and you were too good at it and too competitive for your own good. So she kept changing it until she found something you royally suck at. A.K.A checkers. So now she's as happy as a fucking- oh she's giggling again. Shit, you need to stop that rambling thing.

You look at the board and realize she got you in the middle and you don't have a single move. You say the words you absolutely hate saying, and she fucking knows you hate it.

"I give up."

And right after you say it she cackles like the fucking mad-woman she is. You would growl at her and maybe put your spear to her throat, but your not going to give her that satisfaction of seeing you break. You just shrug and get up, wiping your slightly slimy hand on your pants.

You turn to go back to your post and see that girl sitting near your spot, like she was waiting for you or some shit. You make the walk back there, eyes never leaving that hu-figment of imagination you mean. Humans don't exist. Just stupid fairy-tails, like magic and peace and not being culled by your neighbor. Just fanciful ideas used to taunt stupid trolls like Tav- oh she's looking at you like she's determined or some shit. You arrive at your post and sit on your rock, kicking up little swirls of dust from the dead fucking wasteland you suffer in. You turn to her and she's still looking at you like that, but you've decided to stop being mad at her because SHE'S NOT REAL.

"You gonna run away this time too?" You say tiredly, because hey you have conversations with yourself all the time, why not do so aloud?

She pursed her pierced lips in what looked like anger and that weird glow-y thing happened. Like the wind was moving leaves on a tree and it's shadow moved. But there was no wind right now and all the trees looked like they would fall to dust at any moment and- oh she's talking.

"Why are you here?"

You shake your head and chuckle a bit to mock her. "You dogged the question."

She raised an eyebrow and looked like she was mocking you back. "So did you. And no, I'm not running until I get some answers."

You don't like being mocked so fucking poorly. "Right, so after you get answers /then/ you'll run away?" She just glares at that so you shrug and answer the question like you don't give a fuck. 'Cause you don't. "I'm here because Her Condesce ordered me here to guard the prison." She looked confused at that and you wonder why. She's part of your mind right? So she should know everything you do. So if she's confused then she must not be a part of you. Meaning humans are real. But NO THEY ARE NOT! Because there is no way that something so weak could exist and there is NO WAY IN FUCK you are descended from those idiotic things. So they must NOT BE REAL!

The girl spoke again and snapped you out of your thoughts that obviously weren't rambling. Obviously.

"What are you?" She asked looking as confused as you felt because what the fuck is going on?!

"Lets back up a bit." You say making a twirling gesture with your finger. "Hi. I'm Bethany. I'm an Omega. Those are Trolls. And you are a figment of my imagination." You say talking slow-ish, gesturing to the things you're talking about, and enunciating like Kanaya does.

She nods slowly and says, like you did, "Hi. I'm Cassidy. I'm a human. Those are also humans. I've never met you before. And you're a ghost."

You nod like she did. "Right. Right. Because humans aren't just fairy tales. And I'm truly sorry to say this: but no, I am not a ghost." You say, rolling with the punches so to speak.

She gets up and seems like she's condescending. "Humans aren't fairy tales. I mean I'm /right/ here aren't I? Wait, oh my god, what if humans aren't real? What AM I?" but gets a bit frantic at the end.

You chuckle at that. But wait, why is that funny? Whatever, you deal with that later. Mainly to subdue her and for no other reason you say "Fine, so humans exist. Now explain to me why the fuck only I can see you."

Which was met with an "Uhh, maybe you're special! Like me! I'm the only one who can see any of you guys!" that ended a bit peppy, like how Nepeta usually speaks but without the feline puns.

"HEY DUMBASS!" You hear behind you and aw fuck you do not want to deal with Karkat right now. "What the fuck are you doing thats more gogdamned important than your fucking job you moronic bulge-licker!" He shouted because, really, he only has two volume levels: too fucking loud and holy shit my eardrums!

"Oh, sorry Karkat." You say overly nicely. "I was just over here talking with you're intelligence."

"What the fuck are you talking about you nooksniffer? There's nothing there!"

"What's a nook?" You hear that girl ask. What was her name again? Wait, she doesn't know what a nook is? Maybe she is a human... oh Karkats still talking.

"Am I stupid to you or something? Do you really fucking think I would fall for something as IDIOTIC as THAT?"

You interrupt him with "One: you said that you are stupid, not me. Two: if you're ever going to have a successful matespritship you need to learn to shut up." At this he blushes and starts screaming things at you that you ignore. Really his failed red relations are almost as bad as Eridans. Tried with Terezi, like she did with everyone else she toyed with him. Tried with Sollux, they were constantly quadrant flipping because of his weird ass mood swings. Tried with Nepeta, she couldn't stand his constant yelling and self loathing. He even tried with his moirail Gamzee! That one might of sort of kind of worked if Tavros hadn't come in the picture.

"-AN ASS MUNCHING FUCK MEISTER. ARE YOU EVEN FUCKING LISTENING TO ME, YOU LUSES-LESS DOUCHE CANOUE?" He stopped screaming for a second and that caught your attention.

"Hm? Sorry, seemed like you weren't saying anything different from your usual horse shit so I just tuned it out. Were you saying something of actual importance this time?" You say purely to piss him off.

It actually shuts him up for a few seconds. Then he walks away flipping you off and mumbling something about listening to stupid bitches.

Huh, usually he would arrogantly pursue an opening to be a long winded douche like that. Must have something else occupying his mind. And now you've stopped caring about it.

"Um... could you answer some questions for me?" That girl you absolutely didn't forget about said. What was her name? It was "C" something. Caaaa, Caaaaaaaaaa, Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- fuck it.

"Depends what are your questions?" You ask because you're bored anyway.

"Well, he's a Troll-thingy, right?" You nod. "Well why were you so mean to him?"

You nod again because she is obviously a clueless hermit who doesn't know the basics of troll culture. "Well, he's my kismises." you say because maybe she meant "meaner to him than others."

"Okay." She says dragging out the word. "What's a kismises?"

You just stare at her. Then sigh.  
"Do you know /anything/ about the quadrants?" You ask her and you really don't want to have to explain the quadrants to anyone.

"What quadrants?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head. "And how does that explain why every ones so mean to each other?!"

"What do you mean? For a guard made up of reject-trolls it seems like they're all tolerating each other pretty well." You are honestly confused right now.

"But everyones yelling and arguing all the time! The only ones that ever seem actually happy are the girl with the curly horns, the girl that's obsessed with cats, and the girl with the really pretty pink dresses!"

"Curly horns is probably Aradia. What the fuck is a cat? And the dress girl is Princess Feferi, don't watch her. Just stay away from her. Always." You say because you do NOT want to get on a Tyranbloods bad side, even a young one like the Princess.

"Oh. Well. Isn't that her right there?"

You follow where her misty finger is pointing and look behind you. Sure enough, the Princess is walking straight towards you. Fuck. You obviously don't scramble a bit panickedly into the kneeling position that's mandatory for everyone to assume. Weapon in front, arms behind, not looking at her, horns- head, you mean head, pointed away, body facing her. Because you don't scramble, and you don't get panicked. Obviously.

She comes up to you and stops in front of you and fuck you're about to be culled you know it gog no take Karkat instead! Her personal guards aren't there and is she panting?

"Guard, Bethany, please you have to hide me. Quickly!" She says a bit breathlessly, glancing behind her every second or so.

You get up and lead her into a small thicket of trees, if you could call them that. Once there, you lead her to your second favorite hiding spot. It has a small-ish waterfall that is the source of the prisons water and has notably more life around it than the prison. A few bushes here and there, some semi-dry grass all over the place, and even some bugs hiding in it.

That girl followed you too. Wait, she said the word "cat" right? Whatever, you're calling her that.

You are insanely curious as to why the Princess needs to hide and doesn't have her guard with her, but you don't dare ask. You don't talk to a Tyranblood without being invited, and even then you might be culled.

She sits down on the ground and catches her breath. This place is actually pretty far away from the prison, which is looming at you on the distance. Of course you're tired too, but you stand at attention. You take the place of one of her personal guards for the time being. Your spear, that you grabbed before running, ready to kill anything and everything.

You look around and what the fuck does Cat think she's doing!? Just standing over there, her face not two inches away from the Princesses looking at her horns and she should be damn happy that only you can see her otherwise she might be dead already. Really Princess Feferi is much more lax about things than Her Condesce, but it's better to be safe and alive than sorry and dead.

The Highblood cleared her throat. "Tank you for brineing me out here, Bethany." You nod and dont laugh at the fish-puns. "It's just everythings getting to be too glubbing much for me! I mean Eridan with his mossdarned drama, and Gamzee who usually so nice to be around was worried about his morey-eel so much, and not even MY morey-eel could kelp me because of his mood swings. It reelly means a lot that you would kelp me like this." You nod.

You hear Cat say "See? She's so much nicer than the rest of you!" and you fight the urge to smack her. Doesn't this bitch know danger when she sees it? Wait, she's a human. A fact that you'll deal with the implications of at a later date. But she probably has no idea about the caste system or horns or how much of an idiot she's being!

The Princess talks. Cat talks. Minuets turn into hours. Night comes, and you still haven't said a word. You haven't moved from the spot or the stance you assumed when you got there. You wonder how long you've been standing there when Eridan and Gamzee come into the clearing.

"FEF! Why the glub did you run off like that?" Eridan said grabbing her shoulders and lightly shaking her. But he's a purpleblood. He can do that.

Gamzee stood in front of you. "Hey my motherfucking sis, thanks a lot for takin care of fefsis while we were lookin for her." He gives you a side hug and you're about to say something for the first time in /hours/ when Eridan turns to you and starts yelling.

"YOU!" he says looking surprisingly like a puffer-fish.

"Me." you say apathetically.

"Why the glub didn't you tell us where she was!?" his volume was rivaling Karkats now.

You were about to verbally rip him a new one, because while the Princess is the highest there is Eridans just an arrogant purpleblooded fish dick and you don't give a fuck if you piss him off, when the Princess stepped in.  
"ERIDAN! I'm the one that told her to take me here, why are you yelling at HER?"

Eridan cringed at this, like she had slapped him. But considering how their moirailship ended, he's always on thin ice around her. You smile and snicker a bit at his obvious discomfort as he stumbles over his words and tries to show her she's wrong without insulting her, because you're a bit of a sadist yourself and he pisses you off anyway.

You take this argument as your cue to leave. On your way back you wish Gamzee good luck with Karkat.

Even though you can't stand the small and mutated troll, Gamzee's... well the two of you connect in a really weird way. It doesn't fit into any of the quadrants or "friend". Really, friends are just enemies you tolerate and that doesn't describe you and Gamzee at all. You don't hate him in the least, in fact you want him to be happy but you don't pity him either. It runs deeper than just keeping each other in line like moirails do.

Whatever. You'll care about it later. Maybe.

You head back to the bunks to get some shut-eye since your shift is over, but then think about sleeping in the vicinity of others and change your mind. No, you're not shy. You just don't want Karkat trying and failing to end you in your sleep.

You change you're destination to your absolute favorite hiding spot so far.

A clearing in a dense forest quiet a ways away from the prison. You can barely see it in the distance. The ground is covered in soft grass and carpet-like moss. The trees here are huge and very much alive. You take off your glasses and lay down, spear thrown to the other side. This is where you keep your preferred weapons, a set of duel swords that you know like the scars on your hand. You grab them and set them in reach before you let yourself sleep. After all, never know when someone or something more competent than Karkat might want you dead.

You lay on the ground staring at the moon and stars and totally don't think how beautiful they are and how calm everything is out here. You idly wonder where that human girl is and if you just imagined all that. You don't notice when you fall asleep and start dreaming of crazy things. Things like hope, happiness, peace, and trust. You don't really care about when it happened either. The point is, dreams are nice and you don't want them to end.

You are Bethany Bosteder and you are in a rut on this most boring of days. You're always in a rut and you're always bored. It just happens to be a different type of rut and boredom every day.

Yup, just another boring day.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: Of forests, Striders, and ghost girls.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no. How did you let yourself get lost like this? Okay, okay, just stay calm no scary ghost is going to jump out and try to kill you. Nope. That's not a thing that's going to happen.

"OH MY GOD NO PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" You pretty much scream and throw up your arms when you hear a branch snap and oh no it's really close and the thing sounds huge and deadly and... oh, it was you. heheh. heh.

You relax a bit since nothings trying to kill you- and wait, did you just call yourself fat?! No no no nonno. You are NOT FAT!

Your name is CASSIDY VANBRUNT and you ARE NOT FAT! You are LOST IN A FOREST you went in when A GHOST YOU JUST MET ran in there with another another ghost that seemed REALLY IMPORTANT. You've always been able to SEE GHOSTS AND THINGS LIKE THAT but you've never told anyone since you're KINDA SCARED OF WHAT THEY'D DO. You tend to get DISTRACTED and have an ARTISTS MIND so the things that distract you can be KINDA STUPID. People like the Striders CONFUSE THE FUCK OUT OF YOU while ROSE LALONDE KINDA SCARES YOU but only because of her obsession with BLACK MAGIC. You don't know what TROLL'S or OMEGA'S are but you know you live in the HUMAN WORLD and that you ARE HUMAN even though you DONT KNOW YOUR PARENTS. You are a LESBIAN and sometimes day-dream about FINDING TRUE LOVE which is a REAL THING no matter what ANYONE SAYS!

You keep walking through this stupid forest-y forest and get your clothes and short-ish brown hair caught on a few bushes and branches and you really don't mean that they're stupid. Even though you might find your way back if you're lucky, you wish one of your friends were here. It's kinda boring just walking out here by yourself. Hey maybe you should sing!

"Look how the light of the town  
The lights of the town are shining now  
Tonight I'll be dancing around  
I'm off on the road to Galway now  
Look how she's off on the town  
She's off on a search for sailors though  
There's fine fellas here to be found  
She's never been one to stay at home." You sang, imitating Celtic Woman's song Teir Abhaile Riu and you would have gotten past the first verse if a tree hadn't decided to trip you right there.

You get up and rub your hurting arms that'll probably bruise soon. You look at the tree that tripped you and say "Just because /you/ don't like my singing doesn't mean others feel the same. You don't see any of /them/ tripping me! And it doesn't mean I'm gonna stop either!" to the tree because you KNOW it did that on purpose.

You consider singing again, louder than before, as you walk away. But luckily your friend, who's kind of an ass but you wouldn't say it to him, finds you and now you won't be lost!

"Hi Jake!" You call and run up and hug him.

"Good heavens! Miss Cassidy, thank goodness I found you. The others and I have been searching high and low for you ever since night fell! Which was a gosh darned long time ago. My word, I'd wager that its nearly sunrise! What on Earth happened to you?" He said with his weird accent that you think is just ADORABLE!

"Well, I was following... this girl I met and she ran into this forest to hide this other girl. And we got to this beautiful clearing with this waterfall and just talked for hours and hours. But some time during all that, the girl I followed just disappeared! Then I couldn't ask the other girl the way back since... reasons, so I was wandering around trying to find a way out when I started singing and then a really rude tree tripped me! And... that's what happened." you say.

Jake nods and grabs your wrist to begin leading you back. He really doesn't question things all that much. "Well I'm just jolly glad that you're alright! Now we'd best get back lest the Miss Lalondes decide to 'rip me a new one' as they said." he said with a short laugh at the end.

You look at him with a frown. Ever since he and Dirk broke up, he's been sad and seemed nervous. You worry about him. You worry about Dirk too but with his flawless poker-face you have no idea if he's sad or mad or just doesn't care.

"Jake," You say slowing your walk a bit. "are you okay? After, you know, what happened with Dirk..."

"Now Miss Cassidy, I shall not have you bothering yourself over my affairs, which, might I add, took place a right long time ago. But to answer the question posed to me, I'd say that I'm right as rain!" he said, picking up the pace again.

You shrug even though you dont really know what "right as rain" means and stop talking as the village you live in with all your friends nears. Surprisingly, most all of your friends are orphans like you. Well, except for Jane and her half brother John who have their manly man of a Dad who kinda acts like a Dad to the rest of you! The Striders pretty much raised each other and the Lalondes pretty much raised themselves. Then there's Jake who was raised by his half sister Jade who was actually raised by her dog Bec. But he's a magical dog! So it's not weird.

Oh, and your village is beautiful! It's surrounded by a lush green forest and has this amazing river flowing some-what near it.

"OH MY GOD DIDI!" Roxy said as she ran over and hugged you as you squealed a bit. "Are you okay? Did big scary men come after you? Ohmygod did they TRY TO KIDNAP YOU? Did they had big bags and big weapons and big muscles... mmmmm big muscles. Wait! They were gonna sell ya into the sex slave business weren't they? Ohmygod THEY WERE! OH DIDI WHAT 'AVE THEM AND THEIR SEXY MUSCLES DONE TO YOOOOU?" She says.

You can tell she's a bit drunk but you still can't help but giggle a bit at her obvious theatrics as she squeezes you.

"Roxyyy," you say trying to wiggle out of her grip. "There were no big men or kidnapping. I got lost in the woods, and NOTHING bad happened to me other than a few scratches."  
She sniffled and eased her grip a bit.  
"Y-You promise?" you nod and she lets go of you. "YAY! Now come on! Now that you're back its time to party like theres no tomorrow! Wait, oh my god, Janey doesn't know yet! IM COMIN' JANEY!" She said running off at the end.

You shake your head and watch her run off. Roxy is one crazy chika. Oh wait, you haven't told your BFF John what happened yet! Oh he's probably worried sick about you, but knowing him he'll probably lie about it to make you feel better and fail because he is the worst liar you've ever met! You wave good-bye to Jake and thank him for helping you then go to find John.

Sure enough, a while later you find him at the other edge of the village Strifing with Dave. Johns panting and has a few cuts. His hammer is hanging a bit lower than usual too. While Dave on the other hand looks as if he just got up from lounging on the beach. Not a single scratch on him, or his sword, and his shades aren't even crooked!

You've always kinda wondered about the Striders shades. They've always had them, but you had never seen them before Dave and Dirk came around. When asked where they got their eye-wear they would always make some sarcastic reply or just deny you the information all together!

"John!" You call out. He turns to you and gets his goofy grin on his face. He runs up and hugs you even harder than Roxy did and it's kinda hard to breathe now.

"Cassidy! Are you okay? What happened to you? Why are you covered in scratches? Ohmygod was Roxy right? What happened? Why didn't you come back? ... Cassidy? Cassidy?!" He says in like one breath but you couldn't answer him because he was going to kill you before you got the chance!

Luckily Dave pulls him off saying something you couldn't hear since you were gasping so loud, but when you look at John he looks pretty sorry so you guess Dave was "ironically" telling him you were about to die... or something.

"John clam down! Wait no, calm not clam oops. But still, I'm fine, Roxy was wrong, and I got lost in the forest is all. There was no scary men or sex slave selling." You say and you guess that pretty Feferi girl and her fish puns are rubbing off on you. Oh John's looking at you weird.

"What are you talking about? What scary men? And what's a sex slave?" he said and Dave smirked for some reason only a Strider would know.

"Isn't that what Roxy told you happened to me?" you ask.

"No! She said that Timberwolves came out of the trees and took you to their lair and were going to make you into a pony eating Timbergirl!" He says, Completely serious.

You can't help it. You flat out laugh at that. That girl and her crazy imagination never stops surprising you. Once you stop laughing you say "No John that didn't happen either."

"Okay, but why did you go into the forest alone?" he said.

"But John, I wasn't alone! I was following the really mysterious and kinda mean and kinda scary girl that I just met!" You say.

John just says oh while Dave just looks at you from behind his shades. You think he's thinking your stupid, but that can't be right. He always seems like that to you.

"Uhhh. Why did you follow her if she was so mean and scary?" John asked after a bit of an awkward silence.

"Because she was so different and I had so many questions! She has kinda grey skin and she doesn't know what a cat is and she said she was sent here to guard a prison and she had a spear!" you say

"Wait, she has GREY skin? And there isn't a prison here. There isn't a prison anywhere near here! Is she still around here?" He asked

"Well no. She kinda just disappeared after we got into the forest and I got lost." you say.

"Just kinda disappeared. Is this girl a ghost or something?" Dave said seriously... you think, you can never tell with those guys!

"NO!" You say a bit too quickly. "Uh... no no no. Of course not! Ghost obviously don't exist. Obviously."

Dave just smirks. "Obviously." he copies you then he just walks away.

Oh shit he probably knows now! Nonononononono that CAN'T happen! This guy always acts like he out to ruin you and he's so apathetic about EVERYTHING! Nonono this will NOT happen!

"Uhh. What just happened? Why do look so mad? Why'd Dave leave?" John said and oh no you forgot he was here! Wait, maybe he can make it so Dave won't ruin you! Yesssss.

"John! I need your help! I need you to go convince Dave to not tell anyone what he just found out. This is REALLY important! Pleeeeeeaaaaasseee?" You sorta half-beg him.

He agrees, comically salutes, then runs after that stupid Strider. You hope this works. Dave's one of the few people that can test your saint-like patience.

You go back to Bethany's "post" and she isn't there. So you sit down and wait for her, thankfully it's a bit past the edge of the village so no one should bother you. You see that troll she was being really mean to before. Didn't she call him Karkat? Hehehe what a funny name. Then miss curly horns is Aradia? And Princess Feferi! Wow, do all trolls have weird names like that?

Wait. You take a closer look at the short, angry troll. Holy Goddess he's glowing! You know you should have seen this a while ago but sometimes you just miss obvious stuff okay? But he's glowing with this light. But it's all twilightly. Like, ooooooooo it's Halloween and I'm a ghooooooost, oooooooooo!

Oh there's another troll coming. This one is wearing red and blue shades and has four horns instead of two. Wait, shades. Maybe that's where the Striders got them! Pshhh, yeah, 'cause they can travel between dimensions, right. Now the taller four horned one is yelling at Karkat, and Karkat is yelling back. Man trolls are so mean to each other, and Bethany says they're getting along. Karkat walks off and so does the other troll and they're still yelling at each other! So you wait and watch other trolls.

You see one with red glasses a bit far off. Hey wasn't that the one Bethany was playing some game with before? Maybe that's that girls post! You keep waiting, hoping for Feferi to show up, but she doesn't. You look at the prison. Big stone walls are all you can really see of it. It's kinda creepy how it's situated right where the village is.

"So you're back." You hear behind you. You jump and look around thinking it was Dave again come back to piss you off. But no, it's just Bethany.

"Hi!" You say hoping to make her smile. She always looks so... apathetic. Like Dave. Wait, is she a Strider?! "Quick, what's your last name?" you say.

She shrugs and sits down.  
"Bosteder." She says and would she even react if her arm got chopped off?

"Oh. Oh! Thanks to you I got lost in the woods with Feferi and that scary clown guy!" You say

"Hey, three things. One: It's not my fault you didn't think to follow one of them out. Two: You don't call her by her name. Only purplebloods indigobloods and some bluebloods can do that. To the rest of us she's the Princess. Three: the clown guy's name is Gamzee, don't talk bad about him around me." She says holding up her fingers.

"Gamzee? Wait, oh my god, are you in love with him?" you say

"Depends. What the fuck is love?" She says.

"Wait, you don't know what love is? How don't you know what love is! It's, um, when you have romantic feelings for another person." You explain.

"Alright. Which romance? Matesprit, Moirail, Kismises, or Auspice?" She asked

You stare at her. "What? Bethany, I don't know what any of those are."

She sighs and puts up a hand. "Just Beth. Also I've already accepted that you know nothing of my culture so I'll explain it. A Kismises is someone you hate with every fiber of your being that you're sexually attracted to. Matesprits are practically the opposite of Kismisesses, they have for each other only the most positive of emotions: pity. This also has sexual attraction in it. Moirails are also positive to each other, but its purely platonic. Their tolerance of the other is to the extreme and they keep each other in line so neither one gets culled. Being in an auspiceship is tedious. It's where two people hate each other enough to be Kismesesses but if they did then something bad would happen so a third person comes in and keeps them from going black on each other. Again, platonic. Well it's supposed to be anyhow." She explained.

You have so many questions but one thing is really important right now. "Matesprits! We call them Boyfriends or Girlfriends but it's still the same-ish! Well except our highest positive emotion is love and not pity. But it's really the same thing, right?"

She shrugs. "Why the hell not? So you think I have a flush-crush on Gamzee? I don't."

You were about to say something awesome, but Dirk chose that moment to just waltz out of the edge of the forest that you just noticed was really close. You close your mouth and pretend like you're day-dreaming.

"Hey." He says and puts away his really sharp sword. He sits down next to you, but not where Beth is. She looks at him and raises and eyebrow at you. You think she wants to know who he is.

"Hi Dirk! Why were you in the forest?" You ask him

"I was traveling to another world via a portal in the forest." He says with that pokerface of his.

You laugh. Since he's obviously joking, a portal in the forest? What world would it even lead to?

"Right, right, and I have horns and wings. Wait, do they have horns and wings there? Oh my god if I went there would I get horns and wings? Ooooooohhhh." You say.

You start imagining what you'd look like with horns and wings and miss what Beth said. Probably something mean anyway.

Dirks grabs your shoulder and shakes you a bit. "Earth to Cassidy. Hey, you still with me?"  
You snap out of it and you're about to ask something really smart when he says.  
"So who exactly were you talking to over here?"  
And that kinda stuns you.

Beth nods and strokes her chin like she has a beard. "Well, you're not going to get out of this one easily, if I'm right about him. Which I am. 'Cause I'm awesome." She says.

You pout at her but you think she's right. Dirk looks where you're looking, which is at Beth. You panic a bit. "Dirk, honey, what are you looking at?" But your training as an actress helps you disguise it.

"Depends. What were you pouting at? Wait, let me guess, nothing." He asks turning back to you.

You frown again and why is Bethy laughing at this? "Dirk. I don't want to make you think I don't trust you or anything, which I do! But I really can't tell you who I was talking to or why I can't tell you." You say wanting to get out of this as fast as you can or else you might crack! Because that happens to everyone when they're around Striders, right?

Dirk smirks and acts like he already knows who you were talking to, your secret, and everything else about the universe. He gets up and walks away and you just know he's still smirking like that. But he's just acting. Really it's not like he's a mind reader or something... right?

You turn back to Bethy, and after she recovered from her mysterious laughing fit she says.

"You know, that guy's not nearly as annoying as you. I'll have to keep an eye on him."

"Well he's always like that. I can never tell any of his emotions and did you just insult me?!" You say as you figure it out.

"No." She says. "Of course not. Never. That never did and never will happen. Because I'm just sooo nice that I wouldn't even dream of insulting you!"

You roll your eyes as she goes on about what a good person she is. You know she's just joking, but she kinda reminds you of Dave. Like, a lot. But she emotes more. You wonder about it when she stops talking about herself and starts talking about how stupid you are.

You two talk and talk until you get called back by Dad for his AMAZING cooking. You leave and say good-bye to her. Days pass and you two always meet and talk about the stupidest stuff. Like whether or not bears can be invisible, or what kinds of music there are, or she says perverted things then has to explain them too you.

You are Cassidy Vanbrunt, and you just made a friend! She's really nice and knows the forests really well! You hang out every day and you think you have a new Best Friend Forever!

Oops. Sorry John...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three: Of contemplation, murder, and paintings.

Ever since you met Cat a few days ago she's been a thorn in your side. No not _a_ thorn. More like a dozen thorns. Or barbwire. Or barbwire covered in thorns. The point is: she's just so ANNOYING. She's always talking to you like you're good friends or something, and she's always happy for no damned reason! She's like fucking Nepeta! Kind of. Sort of. Not really. Whatever. Unlike Nepeta, Cat knows when she's pissing you off. Also she actually backs off when she has you at a disadvantage. Who does that? Trolls that are idiots, people that are insulting you and Motherfucking humans, that's who.

As for that Dirk guy, that you totally aren't watching like a hawk 'cause you don't do that, he really is quite interesting. He almost never emotes and has this things about taking off his pointy shades. He's also not half bad with that sword of his. He could probably make a good sparring partner. Also he can actually lose you in the forest, and you know that thing like your glasses! Also he obviously doesn't even know he's being followed so he wouldn't be taking any evasive measures! Damn you've gotten rusty, you used to be like the fucking spirit of the forest or some shit! Wait. Fuck, you've been spending too much time with Cat and her weird spiritualness.

You've also taken an interest in some of the other humans that are there as well. Well, only seven of them truth be told.

Dave, the kid that looks disturbingly like Dirk, also rarely emotes and wears shades. But unlike Dirk he lets out the randomest strings of bullshit and just goes with it. You think it's funny how others are too stupid to come up with a come back when you have, roughly, thousands of them. He's also pretty good with a blade, although you know you could whoop his ass any day of the week. 'Cause you're just awesome like that.

Then there's Rose and Roxy. Again, they look disturbingly like each other. What is it with some humans and physical similarities? Creepy is what it is. Anywho, you can tolerate Rose. She's quiet and she talks like a walking encyclopedia so she always has something interesting to say but she isn't annoying about it. She really reminds you of your local Rainbow Drinker: Kanaya Maryam. As for Roxy, well, to you she's kind of just there and theatric. You don't like loud or annoying people, and she's both. You can usually keep calm if those people don't interact with you, she can't see you, it works out.

The rest you don't care about either. Really, John and Jade are annoying, Jake is a monumental idiot, and Jane's just like a background prop or something. Huh, all their names start with "J" and they all look unnervingly like each other, weird. Maybe their clones or something.

You come to your post after making the trek from your sleeping spot and sure enough, Cat's there waiting for you, like usual.

"Hey." you say as you sit down.

She doesn't say anything so you actually look at her. She's asleep. Wait, no she's pretending to be asleep. You look around to see if there's anyone there. Humans specifically. She tends to just clam up if someone else is there, well clam up about you anyway. You sort of wonder why, but you sort of don't care enough to pursue the thought.

Yup, there's that John kid not ten feet away failing at hiding behind a dead bush. You get up and walk over to him so you can try to guess why he might be here. Something stupid probably. You crouch down next to him and... he's snickering. What the hell?

Oh look, it's Dave. He's walking over to you two, er, to John actually and it looks like John doesn't know he's there. He stops next to the bush and starts talking.

"'Sup." he says oddly quietly.

But it's still enough to make John jump and flip out a bit. Of course, you laugh at this. John sooshs Dave rather violently while waving his arms around.

"Dude, shut it! You're gonna wake her up!" He whispers.

Dave sighs and adjusts his shades. "John, it's painfully obvious that you have a raging boner for her, but stalking her will not help you make her like you. It's just plain creepy. I should know." He says, still low.

There. Right there. That's the kind of bullshit you were describing before in your not-rambling thoughts. But wait, was he the stalker or the stalked?

"Daaaaave, you know it's not like that!" John whines. "She just comes out here every day and does nothing! Even when we invite her to do stuff she still comes out here!"

"So your trying to get rid of your boner by watching her do nothing? John there are so many better ways to get rid of that, it's not even ironically funny." Dave says

"I do not have a boner for her!" John shouts, then Cat moves and he ducks behind the bush with a blush and Dave's smirking. You can't help but laugh too. "No I'm not watching her do nothing, I'm spying on her to see if it's really /nothing/ she's doing." He whispers, then snickers again.

You shake your head and walk back to your post, after all you had gotten what you came for.

You sit down and say "You catch any of that?" to Cat. She gives a small shake of her head. "Well, that John kid is spying on you to see what you're up to, out here all hours of the day. Oh yeah, and he has a raging boner for you too. Good luck with that!" You say with only a hint of mockery in your voice. She smiles and you can tell she's trying not to laugh, it makes you kinda happy to see. Wait, why? Hmm, feeling happiness for making others happy. You just chalk it up to another one of your weird abnormalities. "Anyway, he's over there behind the bush Dave is talking too. I'm sure you can come up with something to scare him off on your own." You say deciding you've had enough of that train of thought and it's possible implications.

She "wakes up" and goes over to said bush. Probably to go scare them off like you said. Truthfully you can't hear what they're saying, and you don't really care what they're saying either. Johns complaining and Dave's... Dave-ing when she tells them whatever she's telling them. She comes back and waits until the two guys are suitably gone before speaking.

"Hi Bethy! Thanks for telling me where he was. I knew he was there, but I couldn't look around for him without giving myself away! So I pretended to sleep. So... Hi!" She says

You nod and sit there as she goes on to tell you about her life in the village. You interject questions about things that confuse you every now and again. Frankly this is what you two do. Talk about the stupidest, irrelevant shit imaginable like it'll save your fucking lives. Thankfully you get a distraction this time around. The alarm bell sounds, effectively shutting Cat up in surprise, you guess. A prisoner is trying to escape.

You get up and turn around, spear at the ready. You see not just one, but a hoard of prisoners making a run for it. A demented rustblood comes at you, probably thinking she can take you out. Idiot.

You take your spear and charge her. Once you're in range, you take her leg off at the knee before she can see you make the move. She falls to the ground and tries to crawl away, growling violently as she does. You laugh and give into your sadistic nature. You chop off her other limbs.

You were going to end her there, but oh look at that, another escapee is coming near you. You ditch the rustblood and go after this new one.

This one is a mutated winged brownblood. He's taken the most logical choice and is trying to fly away. Most logical, if the hunt- guards can't throw that is. You take aim and put a rather large hole in one of the insect-like wings, he falls like a rock. You go to where he came down, ready for any fight he can throw at you, only to find disappointment when you see that his landing killed him.

You see a mute indigoblood a bit off, but Karkat is already working on him. Frankly, even one as stupid as Karkat can take down these wrigglers. Although, you wouldn't stop the mute troll if he tried to kill him.

After about four more vic-escapees are killed you gather up the bodies and body parts and give them to Vriska for her spider lusus to eat. Why it would want to eat a fucking mutant is beyond you, but whatever, it's not like it's you that's eating it.

When you get back to your post, you still have one of Terezi's fucking smiles plastered on your face. You can't help it if you like to kill as much as Gamzee when he's sober. Your covered from head to feet in a veritable fucking rainbow of blood too. Oh well!

You look at Cat, and she looks like she's scared fucking shitless. She kinda looks like she's frozen. You come up behind her.

"Boo!" you say, snapping her out of her frozen state.

She jumps up and tries to run from you, but trips and falls. Normally you would laugh at such a pathetic display, but now you just don't think it's funny. You feel legitimately bad for making her look so terrified, a fact that you refuse to think about the implications of right now. Of course, you'd never say anything like that to anyone ever. So you take the bitchy way out.

"Oi!" You snap at her. "Just how much of an idiot are you? You're scared that I'll hurt you right? Good fuck, I cant even touch you let alone harm you!" You say as your smile is replaced with a scowl, because FUCK you are NOT weak for reasons you're NOT thinking about right now!

She nods, as if seeing the reason in your statement, or just to scared do disobey you. She stands but keeps her distance and you realize what you must look like to her. Covered in blood, holding a weapon, pissed as fuck. To someone in your world, your just another idiot. Yet to someone raised out of violence, you're probably the stuff of nightmares.

You sigh and stab your spear point down into the dirt. Taking off your ever present blood stained sweat-shirt, you sit and assume a non-threatening position on the rock. You try to calm down as well, but you've never had that much control over your temper so you achieve a grumpy apathetic-ness at best. You are /only/ being so vulnerable now because she can't harm you anyway, you keep telling yourself. Frankly, this whole situation falls under the "think about it later" category.

She sits back down next to you, apparently acknowledging that you made yourself harmless. Yet she doesn't try to kill you as anyone else would have.

"So, thats what guarding a prison is about in your world?" She asked.

You two had already figured out that the two worlds were in different dimensions but situated in the same place, or something. You guess it makes sense, but your mind set isn't right for that kind of thinking so you don't really know.

"Yes it is. Every prisoner that tries to escape we kill." You say, with an accompanying sigh. You don't bother saying that it's less of an order and more just a smart thing to do. "Isn't that the way your prisons work?"

She shakes her head. "Usually the guards just take the prisoner back to they're cells and they get reduced rations or something like that. Well unless the warden or someone higher up than them are really cruel, then I don't know what happens to the prisoners." She says, still nervous around you. Well that's the feeling you get at least.

You silently wonder once again at how different Troll culture is from Human culture, and how humans can even fight living so freaking carefully, or safely, or something.

And then she's talking again. About that Jake kid and how cute he is with that accent. About how she would date Dirk in an instant if he were a girl. About how Dirk would look as a girl. About Bec and his magical powers. About how maybe you could actually meet each other some day with Bec's help. About how pretty the Princess is and how hot Vriska is. About you and how are you still alive living in such a violent world? About rivers and forests and her sense of direction. About dogs and cats. About unicorns and pegasi and alicorns. About the meaning of life. About death. About singing and baking. She talks. You talk. Night falls and she leaves, back to all her real friends.

You sigh again and get up, gathering your things. You head back to your sleeping place in a forest quite a ways away. Yup, now's the time. Now's the time that you need to think, specifically about the things you said you'd think about later. Well later has become now. You've been dreading this night. As you walk the distance you begin said task.

Okay, list time.  
One: humans exist. Meaning the stories that say Omegas are descended from them are true too. Meaning you are part human. Meaning that you could possibly be biologically weaker than trolls. But then you already knew that.  
Two: You think things that aren't sadistic in nature are funny even though you are positive that you hadn't before Cat started talking to you. Meaning she was changing you even back then. Meaning you were letting her change you. Meaning you trusted her even back then.  
Three: The relationship between you and Gamzee. It's a lot like the relationship between Dirk and Dave from what you see. Cat explained it to you, calling them "Bros". Well at least you won't be in limbo about that anymore.  
Four: You're happy when she's happy.  
Five: You get mad at someone who scares or is mean to Cat, whoever it may be.  
Six: You let down your guard around her.  
Seven: You go against your instincts and try to be nice to her.  
Eight: Facts four through seven point to one of two things. Flushed feelings for her, or pale. You honestly think it's pale.  
Nine: You think you might possibly be flushed for Dirk.  
Ten: You're happier then you've been in a long while.  
Eleven: All of this is as substantial as a dream. Meaning you've set yourself up for emotional pain yet again.  
Twelve: Your relationship with their world will never be anything more than this.

You snap out of your thoughts when you see orange in your peripheral vision. Of course, you never had much control over your curiosity either, so you follow it. It's probably just a mutated brownblood that got past a stupid guard, which could be any of them. Idiots.

It doesn't take you long to realize that you've never explored this part of the forest before and that you are lost as fuck. Surprisingly enough, you never got very close to them. All you ever saw was a bit of clothing or a moving branch. You pick up the pace, because like fuck you're going to let any prey of yours survive!

You come to a less densely wooded area and... what the actual hell? You come upon what looks like... the missing part of a broken wall you guess. But that's not the amazing thing.

The sky of it is blue not black, and shining a light, and the grass is tall and like an ocean of green on the forest floor. Everything's so alive, ... on this broken piece of wall. But it all looks so real, as if you could just step into it and be... there. In that wonderful place.

You know it's just a very realistic painting or something, but you're prone to fantasize at times. You refocus and look around for his foot prints. Frankly, the prints are so big and deep its either a man or a very big girl.

Holy shit there are a fuck load of prints here. You follow the most recent set to behind the painting. Here mutant, come to your death. You hear a noise behind you and spin around, expecting an attack. You pause in surprise when you don't see the piece of wall with the painting on it. There's just nothing there.

You walk forward to where you estimate it to be and reach forward, thinking that the artist could have painted the back too. Your hand doesn't meet anything, so you slowly begin walking again. You're sure that you've past it by now. You turn back around. It's still there.

Fuck a stupid troll, this is interesting. You circle it and find that it's only visible from the front, and not even tangible from the back. You stand and stare at it, wondering just what could do that.

Something moved. In the painting. Something moved inside the painting... No, you're obviously just imagining things. Paintings can't move and it's rather unmistakeable that it isn't a screen and not being projected onto. Paintings can't move, paintings are substantial, this is a painting. Right?

Prey forgotten, you reach out to touch it. Little do you know, you are not alone.


	4. Chapter 4

*Authors note: Okay, from now on I'll be aiming to upload new chapters sometime during the weekend: Friday Saturday or Sunday. Because, god damn it, I consider Friday part of the weekend. Don't like it? Too fucking bad, that's how it is an' it ain't changin'.

Chapter four: Of spies, dreams, and surprises.

Step. Step. Step. Duck. Step. Step. Don't get tangles in thorns. Step. Step. Be sneaky. Step. Step. Step. Step. Don't fall. Step. Don't fall. Step. Step. Don't fa- You trip and fall with a small "Eeep!" and a soft thud. You don't move and hope they didn't hear you. You get up and start following them again once you're sure they didn't notice you. Why does this forest have to be so freaking thick? Why did you do this at night? You get close enough to hear what they're saying.

"So do you really think it was one of /them/ she saw?" John says, looking around like whatever he's talking about will come out of the trees and try to kill him.

"Yeah. But didn't Bro say they were all dead?" Dave says.

"What if one of them survived and now she's trying to KILL US! Wait, how did Cassidy even _see_ her? Unless she found the g-" John was cut off by Dave's hand covering his mouth.

Dave shook his head. "You know we aren't supposed to talk about that John. We don't want some dumb-ass finding out because you can't keep your trap shut." He says then drops all conversation.

Find out about what? Who's supposed to be dead? What did you see? WHATS GOING ON?! Ever since you got lost those two have been acting so weird. Dave's been spying on you, Johns been practically stalking you, and both of them interrogate you! Somethings up and you want to know what. So you made the mistake of trying to spy on them. They led you into this forest and you've almost died like ten times here!

You wish Bethy was here, she seems like she'd be good at this kind of thing. Or Jade. Or Bec. Yeah, with Bec you'd be able to get answers out of them easily. Ooooh, it'd be even easier if you could get Dirks help! He's scary when he's mad and can understand Dave, yeeeaaaah. You should get Dirks help.

They walk into a little clearing-ish thing. Well, it's more like the trees thinned out in a little circle-ish area. You draw blank on thoughts as the two just disappear. They just fucking disappeared.

You slowly walk into the whatever-it-is, slightly scared that they'll just come out of nowhere and do... something. You hear Roxy's voice come out of nowhere and almost screech before you remember that you're supposed to stay hidden. You look around for her, trying to be as quiet as possible, when you hear Dave talking to her.

"Hey Roxy. You two senior citizens find her yet?" but you still can't see him.

"Nnnnope! Who ever this chika is, she's damn good at hiding from us." Roxy says. Did she get a magical ring that makes her invisible or something?

"But if we don't catch her then she'll expose us and that scary queen will kill us!" John says. Oh my god he's invisible too!

"Don't worry Johny boy. Our peeps on the other side are makin sure that any ideas like that'll be squashed like a bug!" Roxy says. Wait, other side, ARE THEY DOING BLACK MAGIC?! Oh no oh no oh no you have to talk to Rose about this before they do something stupid... well stupider than practicing it in the first place!

You get out of there as fast as you can, but not before you catch a glimpse of Roxy. EXCEPT SHE'S A GHOST! You try to run faster and almost die about twenty times. By the time you reach the village you're a mess. Out of breath, with leaves in your hair, covered in mud and you think your make-up is smeared. You decide to clean up and wait to get more information before running around and accusing people of things this big.

Though, you might as well talk to Rose. Just to get her input in the whole thing or something. She seems to always know the right thing to do, even if she is a bit scary. Okay a lot scary when she wants to be. Hey, she'd be perfect to interrogate them! But you really wouldn't want to be there when she does.

You can't find her anywhere in the village, so you decide to hunt down Jade instead. Really those two know pretty much everything about each other, so she would know where Rose is! You find her out by the river playing with Bec.

"Jade! Hey, Jade!" You shout once you get in range.

"Hi Cassidy! What are you doing out here this late? Even if you are an insomniac, you still need your sleep!" She says in her usual hyper-active way.

"I could ask you the same question missy. But I'm trying to find Rose. Do you know where she is? I've searched all over the village but she's not there!" You say

"I think she went for a walk not too long ago. That's all I know, sorry. But why do you need to find her?" She says after thinking.

"Well, I need to talk to her about something I heard Dave John and Roxy talking about. I'm really worried about them." You say

"Why? Is Dave hurt? Did something happen?" She asks

"Oh, no! No ones hurt Jade. Its... just... it's nothing. Anyway, thanks for the information. I should be getting to bed soon though. Good night Jade!" You say with a smile then walk off. You don't want her worrying, but because of her crush it's a bit hard in this case.

You keep smiling until she can't see you very well. Then change to a thoughtful frown. It's been an eventful night. But since Rose is gone there's not much you can do for now. You'll defiantly have to talk to Bethy about all this in the morning. Maybe she'll have some ideas about it. You see Jane coming out of Dad's cabin, you wonder what they were baking, and decide you should ask her advice on this little problem.

"Jane?" You say once you catch up with her. "If I tell you something, can you promise you won't freak out?"

"Of course Cassidy. What's on your mind?" She asks

"Well... I think that Dave John and Roxy might be practicing black magic!" You say in a rush.

She stayed quiet for a while before speaking again. "How do you know this?"

"Well. I was following Dave and John through the forest, because they've been acting weird, when they just disappeared! Then they were talking to Roxy who also wasn't there. Then they were talking about their people on "the other side". Then I saw Roxy as a ghost! Jane what do I dooo!" You say getting worried, and shit you just told her you can see ghosts.

"Ever think that maybe you're just... misunderstanding what happened? Why don't you just talk to them about it and get this straightened out." She says kindly.

"Well, maybe. I don't know! Thanks for not freaking out or anything on me. I just really needed to tell someone that." You say then yawn. Actually, it is pretty late.

You tell Jane good night and head to your cabin so you can go to bed. Now that you have a hope of your little problem not turning into a nightmare of course.

You snuggle down in your comfy bed, after changing clothes, and try to drift off to sleep. But you can't. Mainly because you're scared of what kind of scary ghosts are out in the night. But also because you're curious as fuck about what Roxy and them were doing. You really hope they weren't actually practicing black magic, then you'd have to get mean at them!

You finally drift off to sleep, and have one of the craziest dreams of your short life!

It was about you lying in a field full of dead and scratchy grass. Then you start floating, but you're not surprised at all. It's normal to float and fly. Jade, Jake, rose, Jane, Eridan, feferi, karkat, equius, Vriska, and Terezi are all flying too. But Bethy, Roxy, dirk, Dave, John, Kanaya, Gamzee, Aradia, nepeta, Sollux, and tavros are all on the ground. You fly really high, then you look down and see the ground and you start falling! You're falling way too fast, you yell at the others that are floating to help you but they don't even notice you. You look down again and yell at the ones on the ground to catch you, but Bethy just smiles and says "Welcome back!" then you hit the ground. But it's not ground anymore it's water... or not? It feels like... blood, but it's black so it can't be. some is white and then there's also yellow, purple, green, blue, and lots of red and, whoa even more pink. Then you're falling out of the water... blood... liquid. And you're on land again and feferis laying next to her and you're kissing Feferi! then you see Dave and Jade laughing together. You get up and run over to them but jade turns into sollux when you get close. Then Dave tells you to go find bro and make sure he's okay. So you heads to the forest, 'cause that's where he always is, and you see Bethy asleep on him. Dirk is fine, but Bethy doesn't get up when you tells her to. Dirk shooshes you and says that "Your supposed to be doing something important and go away can't you see she's trying to sleep" so you harrumph and leave them. You happen upon John laughing and karkat yelling at him. You shrug and walk off. Then you see Kanaya and Rose and rose wants to talk to you. "Oh Cassidy I'm so sorry to see that you've left us but I'm so glad that you can see the truth now. Very few ever can. Just don't let that old grumpy pink snake or the finicky purple tool find the black bird and you'll be fine, my dove. But beware of the cyclops and the open book, they have nothing but trouble for you." you nod and walk away. Then you're looking for something, something you're missing, something you forgot. You finds a big grey goat fighting a giant pink snake instead. It looks like they've been fighting for a really long time, so you just leave them be. Then everything's all black and white and grey. The trees are just ashes and the ground is covered in ash, but there's also white and black and grey sticky stuff all over everything. You feel sad at the sight of it. But you feel that you have found what you lost, and the truth of it made you feel worse. Then Bethy was standing next to you, covered in sticky black stuff and ash from head to toe, you could barely see her blue eyes behind her glasses it was so thick. She smiles and says "It's okay to forget, as long as you remember what you forgot." Then everythings falling away from you and now you're dressed up like royalty in a castle. You try to walk but notice sticky pink stuff covering your hands and get scared. You start running and trolls and humans are bowing, but the sticky stuff is spreading over you and dripping onto the floor. You see Equius, who is also covered in the pink stuff, holding a head that was cut off. Its a troll head with a shit load of hair and curved horns it's dripping the pink stuff. he says "There you are, my Queen." and bows.

You wake up and see John about three inches away from your face and freak out a bit. You scream and scoot backwards until you hit the wall. John wakes up with a jolt and lifts his head out of a small spit puddle.

"John! Don't you know that you're not supposed to come into a sleeping girls house and watch her like a creeper!? How'd you even get in here anyway?" you sorta scream and sit up.

He gets up from his kneeling position. "Uh, your door was unlocked and I wanted to make sure that no one came in here to do anything bad to you!" he says still sleepy. If it wasn't for that and the bit where you're in your sexy pj's making it awkward, you'd might have not believed him so easily.

"My door wasn't locked?" you say, confused. You swear you locked it last night. But then, John isn't depraved enough to just sneak into your house and watch you sleep. "Well, whatever. Get out. It's not right to watch a lady while she's changing."

He gets a bright red blush on his face and stumbles over his words before he just leaves. You giggle and think how easy he is to embarrass. Hey wait, he was in your dream! You get dressed and do your make-up, dismissing the dream as just another crazy one. Well, craziest but still, it's not like it has any relevance.

You go outside to try and find Rose. No, you're supposed to talk it out with them before jumping to conclusions. You try to find Roxy instead. You keep looking. You look where you already looked. You find Dave instead. You walk up to him, mentally preparing yourself for his insults that are sure to come since John isn't around.

"I saw you last night." You say skipping the formalities and being as blunt as a potato.

"Well now, I didn't know stalkers just came out and admitted it like that. But you aren't all that subtle are you?" He says, trying to piss you off.

"In the forest. With John and Roxy." You say trying to remain tolerant.

"Hey now, what I do with John and Roxy in a forest at night is my own damn business." He says.

You don't catch the double meaning of that. "I heard what you were talking about with John. How I saw someone that could expose you and get you killed by a queen. Then something about a "g-" and Roxy saying something about people on the other side." You say with your anger raising at his stalling.

He stays quiet for a long while. So long you think he might have fallen asleep. Then says "Fuck, follow me." and walks off in a hurry.

Taken sorta by surprise you have to run to catch up, then to keep up you have to lightly jog. Stupid tall Striders and their tallness. He leads you to where Roxy and John seem to be waiting for you.

"David, You're late! Oh hi Didi, why're you here?" Roxy says, without her usual alcoholic bottle in hand.

"Roxy for the last fucking time it's Dave, not David. And she's here because she saw us." He says, sounding ever so slightly tense, or were you just imagining things again?

"What!?" John shouts then starts saying things that aren't really words until Dave covers his mouth and tells him exactly how uncool that was and how you have to be cool to be in a Striders presence or it's blasphemy and blah blah blah.

"Hmm, well that's a problem." Roxy says talking over Dave.

"I just wanted to know what you were really doing there is all." You say.

Everything gets really quiet until John be's John and says "Should we tell her?"

"Well, if what we've heard is true then she already knows about the trolls, why the hell not? So what exactly did you see that you need us to tell you the truth about?" Roxy says

"Well, when you all disappeared is what I'm really confused about." You say wondering what this has to do with trolls.

"Hmmm, well we disappeared because we were all on the other side of a door that you can only access from one side I suppose. But how the shit did you hear us?" Roxy asks.

"Uuuuuhhhhh." You say trying to come up with a suitable lie.

"Wait, how do you even know about trolls?" John asks

"Uuuuuuhhhhh... um... errr, I." You can't come up with a believable lie. "Wait, a /door/? That you can only see from one side? In the middle of the woods? You really expect me to believe that?"

"Yes. But if you don't, we could always give you a bullshit lie that your average idiot would buy for a nickel. Seriously, those fuckers have been swarming me. Throwing fucking nickels at me and begging for-" Dave says getting cut off by Roxy.

"Well, I suppose the 'how' on your part doesn't matter that much. We'll figure it out eventually." She says, like she already knows but just doesn't give a fuck.

You nod, seeing that you're not getting any other explanation and they won't question you any more. "So, assuming you're telling the truth, what does the door lead to?" You ask.

Roxy laughs a bit. "To the world the trolls live in, duh! We're here to make sure that they don't cross over and kill us all. Or something." She says indicating the three of them.

Wait, a door to Bethy? Maybe you two can meet up finally! Er, face to face. Um, in person? Who cares, you'll finally get to see her! Ho, but these guys control the door, so you must be sneaky. John says your name and you realize that you've been quiet for too long to be anything but suspicious seeming. "Oh, sorry for spacing out like that. But at least now I won't have to have Rose interrogate you!" You say and walk over to Bethy's post before they can respond.

Ooh, maybe you should surprise her with a visit! Yeah, she's always so calm and unflustered about everything. But if you just show up out of the blue, there's no way she won't be surprised! Ooo this gon' be guuud. You sit down next to her rock and look around. Weird, she's usually here by now. You wait a few more minuets. You wait a few more. You realize you've been waiting for half an hour. You start to get worried when a troll with pretty green lipstick comes and takes her post. You get even more worried when that one troll, Gamzee you think, comes up and they start talking. He looks less high than the last time you saw him.

"Have you succeeded in locating her yet, Gamzee?" Says the girl troll.

"Sorry Kanaya, it's like she all up and disappeared or something. Why do you think she's hiding from us? It's not like we'd do anything bad to her!" Gamzee says.

"I'm truly sorry Gamzee, but now that it's been confirmed that she's an Omega we have to kill her. No matter how fond of her you are we must not let any of them survive. Lest we run the risk of exposing our selves and having Her Condecse find out. In truth, Gamzee, it's either her life or thousands of others dying in the inevitable war." Kanaya says. Hehe, trolls. Have funny names. Wait, they're gonna krill Bethy! Uh, kill not krill.

Gamzee takes a seat on the rock and looks so sad that you just wanna hug him. "But... You're right Kanaya, but can't we just keep it a secret from the others? Like we have been, saying she's just a weird ass mutant when people get close to figuring it out and saying humans don't exist and... they won't figure it out with us doing that right?" He says, but he looks like he already knows the answer.

"Once a secret is known, it has a way of spreading against ones will. We already know it Gamzee. It's bound to make itself known now. But you need to go back to guarding the Princess before Eridan does something he'll regret later. I'll take care of it." She says

Gamzee just nods and walks to where you assume Feferi is. You sit there trying to process what they were saying. Bethy has to die. Because if people find out she's an Omega a war will start. But why do humans matter? Unless... Bethy's actually a human in disguise! But where could she be hiding? Well, she's always going on trips to the forest that surrounds this place in both worlds, but you'd get lost if you tried to find her by your self. Jade could help, but she'd get curious and demand an explanation before too long. Rose wouldn't demand an explanation, but she'd just figure it out herself. Roxy is out, because she'd ask way to many questions. Jane almost never leaves the village. Jake would believe any lie you could come up with, but you don't want to lie to him. Dirk would be curious but not ask, and even if he did figure it out he wouldn't try to psychoanalyze it like Rose would.

You get up to go find Dirk. There is no way you're going to just let Bethy die like that! You find him helping out your local blacksmith. It's kinda odd that you never see him resting, or just doing nothing. After a lot of hassle that could have been avoided, you find yourself in the forest with Dirk looking for Bethany.

"So, you're looking for something. Something I'm not supposed to know about, and I'm here to make sure you don't die or get lost as fuck." He says.

"Yes!" You say. He stops and looks at you like you've just said the stupidest possible thing, then just keeps walking.

"So what exactly can I know about this thing that's eating up my time?" He asks.

"Ummm, well the thing's a she and if I dont find her the someones going to krill her!" You say.

"Are you going to stop the krillers if you do find her?" he says.

You half-heartedly glare at him for saying "krillers". But it occurs to you that you have no idea what you'll do once you find her. You also realize that you're going up against trolls, who fight every day. "Uhhh. I don't know." you say.

You try to think about it, but every option just seems way too stupid to work. When you come back to reality without a plan, you find that Dirks been leading you somewhere. You ask where you're going but he cryptically says "To your friend." and nothing else.

Not long after that you see the small clearing thingy again. You see the door Roxy was talking about, but it's more like a rip. Everything on the other side is mainly colored orange and black. Dirk walks in and gestures for you to follow.

You do with mild curiosity, and once you're relatively far away from the door his words come back to you. "To your friend." he had said. How did he know she's your friend? How did he know about the door? How does he know where she is? How does he know that she's on this side of the door?!

You suddenly think that Dirk wasn't the best choice you could have made. You no longer know if you can trust him.

You realize that you can't escape from him, no matter how hard you try.


	5. Chapter 5

Authors note: possible dudes and chikas out there, seriously, comment. I know that it's shit, but you could at least tell me it's shit instead of leaving me to guess at your possible existence. Whatever. New chapter, enjoy or some shit.

Chapter Five: of unexpected visitors, sudden changes, and snakes.

Swords, check. Glasses, check. Ominous feeling that you're going to die being stronger than before, check. Good fuck you don't even know what the hell's going on anymore. Ever since last night you've been hiding for your life. Apparently, there's this huge network of both trolls and humans working together to make sure Her Condesce doesn't find out about the humans and kill them, or some stupid shit like that. Also, the Omegas are apparently the out-come of troll and human mating. Meaning that if Her Condesce took a good look at you she'd find out about the portal/door/piece of wall/whatever the fuck you wanna call it, meaning that all Omegas must be killed by members of said network. So now you're hiding from every-fucking-one in the gog damned forest and FUCK!

You honestly have no idea why Dirk told you all this after stopping you from entering their world. You also don't know why he didn't kill you if he knew you were endangering him just by being alive. You also don't know why you're fucking bothering with these useless ass-munching questions when you have more important things to be doing, like fucking surviving. Frankly, the only reason you bother with staying alive anymore is to piss off the ones that want you dead.

You growl at a near by rabbit that's about to expose your hiding place. Which is really just you lying underneath a large bush with some leaves an' shit around the edges. The rabbit runs off and your attention is brought back to your various minor wounds. Multiple bruises and a few cuts due to sharp branches and rocks an' shit. Almost every single one leaking your freaky black blood. Then there's the aching shoulder from your mini strife with Dirk, guy's strong as hell. Good FUCK you never thought you'd EVER have to do this shit again. But nooo, life just loooves to royally screw you over like the fucking nook it is.

Truthfully, your life has always been like this. But now you've got a group of trolls after you with a hell of a good reason to want you dead. You don't even know who they are or how many the group has. Before on the other hand, everyone wanted to kill you. But that was only subconsciously! So they only half-heartedly tried to krill you. Wait, gogfucking damn those stupid fish puns that Cats fucking addicted to!

You sigh and get over yourself because complaining like fucking Karkat isn't going to help the situation. You freeze when you hear someone coming close to your bush. Wow that sounded dirty. No, wait, there'll be time to be a pervert later. Your main concern is the person standing right in front of _the_ bush. You feel the need to grab your swords, but any motion would give you away so you decide not to. In the end the person kicks the bush and you realize it's Dirk. In retrospect, freezing was kinda useless.

"You got a visitor." he says, short blunt and to the point.

You hesitate, but crawl out in an obviously awesome way in the end. You stand only to be tackled by someone, whom you quickly pin to the nearest tree. You're about to put your sword in their skull but the moron starts talking.

"Eee! Bethy it's me!" She says.

You actually look at your assailant and feel like a bitch. It's Cat. You almost killed Cat. Grub of a motherFUCKER!

"Cat. What the hell did you think were doing attacking me like that?" You say with an accompanying sigh and let go of her.

"I didn't _attack_ you. I was trying to _hug _you!" she says and her habit of confusing you makes itself known once again.

"Its a sign of affection." Dirk says. He must have seen your confusion, even though you didn't show any. He's sharper than Cat, that's for sure.

"Oh." You say.

You would have continued, but then Cat starts fucking crying, squealing, and, er, hugging you. You panic a bit, because you have no idea how to deal with this emotional shit. You don't bother trying to hide it, it's all too unfamiliar to you.

"Cat? Uh... Why. Why exactly are you crying?" You ask and you're pretty sure Dirk is trying not to laugh at you.

"Oh Bethy I'm just so happy that we can finally touch each other!" She says, tears still running down her face and onto your sweatshirt. That sounded /so dirty/ but pervert time is later!

"Then why are you crying!" You say, confused yet again.

"Humans cry when they're happy as well as when they're sad." Dirk supplies.

"Humans are fucking weird." You say, prying her off you as she tries and fails to calm down. "Now onto the big question. Why the fuck are you here?"

"Bethy, you won't believe it, but in the forest in this weird little clearing-" She says

"There's a weird portal thingy that connects the worlds." You finish for her.

"Uh, yeah! But there's also a few trolls that want to kill you!" She says.

"Yeah, Dirk here already told me all that. Any idea who they are? For how forth-coming he's been, he's also been secretive as shit about some stuff." You say.

"Um, well I do know. But I don't think you'll like it." She says, pensively.

You raise one eyebrow. There are only three people that you know you can't confidently go up against. Sollux, Vriska, and Equius.

"It's um, Kanaya... and Gamzee." She says.

Okay. Fuck. That's a low blow to be sure. Of course, showing pain is bad because it's a sure-fire way to get yourself culled, so change the hurt on your face into anger. Hopefully before either of them notice it.

"Alright, so I just have to hide from them and everyone who they might question. So... I still need to avoid everyone. Whatever." You say.

"Sorry to interrupt this emotional reunion, but we actually have shit to do if you two want to stay alive." Dirk says.

"Yeah, for one Cat needs to go back to her world." You say, shaking off that emotional bullshit.

"But I just got here! There is no way that I'm leaving you alone here with so many people that want you dead!" She cries

"Oh yeah? What the hell are you gonna do when they come for me?" You ask rhetorically.

"Duh, I'll fight them!" She says.

"Exactly. You'll fight them, then you'll die fighting them." You say.

"I don't care! I'd rather die trying to protect you than watch from safety as you get your self killed!" She says.

Well that shut you up. She'd risk her life for yours. FUCKING EMOTIONAL BULLSHIT! You're pretty sure you're looking at her like she has two heads, which would actually be less shocking than this. And she probably has no idea the importance of what she just said. There is no way in /hell/ you're going to let this idiot die for you. You feel a hand cover your mouth as your about to say something and Cat shoots Dirk a nervous and scared look.

"Holy shit you two talk a lot. Now shut up and let me explain." Dirk says. "Bethany, you're right Cassidy is going back to our world. But you're coming too."

You try to deny. Say that you're perfectly capable of out-witting these wrigglers on your motherfucking own. But Dirk pushes the back of your head against his chest to reenforce his grip.

"Mhhn mphnnhn hmmnphhmnm!" is all that comes out when you try to speak.

Cat starts laughing. "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that. But one way or another, I'm getting you to my side of the rip!" She says.

She takes your hand and starts pulling. Dirk releases his hold on you then flashsteps away. You wonder what he's up to, as Cat pulls you along.

As you two travel, nothing much happens. Well other than you almost getting your ass handed to you by Aradia. If it wasn't for Cat sneaking behind her and knocking her out, that little skirmish would have ended badly. You don't know why you were holding back. But you think you'll stop questioning your motives for a while. Over thinking can be deadly. And is always stupid in retrospect.

Cat also airs some concerns she has about Dirk. You admit that you're curious as to his motives. The two of you agree to keep an eye on him. You ponder whether or not your possible flush-crush will cloud your judgement. You decide it won't.

Hours in the future, but not many, you arrive at the little thinning of trees and are about to cross over into a world almost opposite that of yours. Needless to say you never thought you'd be doing this. Let alone to save your life... er, to let you live longer. To let you live out of suspicion? Whatever. The point is: this is lower on your list of "Things that'll never happen" than Eridan cross-dressing _and_ Kanaya supporting Eridan cross-dressing. Which you accidentally found out was a thing that happens annually about two weeks ago. So... you suppose this portal thing was bound to happen sooner or later.

A presence beside you snaps you out of your completely not off topic thoughts. You look over and see that Dirk came back. You would ask what he was doing, but something tells you he wouldn't answer you anyway. So you don't bother. You walk towards the opening, but predictably Dirk stops you.

"Oh yeah, there are some people on that side that want you dead too." He says.

You feel the urge to smack him. But your too tired of this fucking bullshit, or you're just too used to it. Anyway you don't smack him. You just go with it. Like you're actually as awesome as you pretend to be.

You nod and step through to the other side. Where you are almost immediately blinded by how bright that motherfucking sun is. You grumble and step off to the side so the other two can get through. How the fuck can these guys see when it's so fucking bright out?

You rub your eyes as they slowly, and somewhat painfully, adjust to the light of the humans realm/dimension/world/who gives a flying bat fuck about it anyway. You open your eyes and curse once again when your eyes start tearing up with clear fluid and you have to squint to actually see things.

"Surviving here should be easier than back there. All you have to do is stay in the forest and hide when some random idiot walks by." Dirk says.

You roll your eyes. "Yeah, 'cause I had to do so much more back there. But I see your point." You say.

"Yay! You're finally on my side of the rip thing-y! Oh, I can finally introduce you to my friends! But wait you need to stay hidden. So... who can I introduce you to that won't expose you?" Cat babbles.

"Hold up. Remember how I said there are people here that want her dead? You know about two seconds ago? I know it's a long time, but you can at least try to think back." Dirk says.

Cat playfully pushes Dirk and says "Well then who are we avoiding? You can't keep everything a secret you Strider-y... Strider."

"I would tell you, but you'd say I was lying about one of them. Maybe two." He says.

"Fine, I won't say you're lying if you tell me who they are!" She says.

"If you say so. The ones who want you dead are Roxy, John, and Bro." he says with a shrug.

Cat is silent for a second. Then you miss what says as she quietly freaks out. You miss it because you're trying to match names to faces in your head. John is... that nerdy one that is always pranking people, right? Roxy is the blond annoying one. That one you're sure of. You're guessing Bro is Dave because of how Cat explained their relationship.

Awhile later, after some really stupid and boring shit where Dirk explained exactly what this group or whatever does along with who's in it and why and their purpose and who their leader is and what would probably be _pages_ of really important and revealing details about really important shit, they both leave you to your devices and you scope out new hiding places.

You find that, after wandering around for a few hours, most all of the trees an' shit are in the same place as back home. You're sure that there's a better word that sums up the majority of that sentence, but you can't think at the moment because of something else you've noticed over the course of the past few hours. Said something being: the longer you stay up, the harder it is to think. Well, less harder and more... exceedingly difficult to to stay on track and efficiently use rational thought. Or something. Of course, this dilemma has only made itself known these past few hours due to the lack of adrenaline. Because you could stay up for months and not have this problem, when there's the constant threat that you're going to die that is. Actually, you have been warned that you're going to die here too. You guess you're just subconsciously underestimating them or something. Humans are just so... squishy you guess. Like, their strong in the fact that they can recover from shit pretty damn quickly, whether it be physical or otherwise. But when it comes to their deadliness, their like freshly culled wrigglers! So, you can't really hurt them badly and they cant hurt you, like squishy things! Hear that? That's the sound of your rational thought packing up running away. Bye rational thoughts!

You come back to reality, but totally not because you obviously didn't just trip over a rock or root or something. Wait, no, it was because of that. Ow. Your face hurts now. You turn over on your back and look at the sky. It's nice. It's a nice sky. Sure it's bright, and your eyes hurt from looking at it, but it's pretty in a really weird way. You realize that the ground your laying on, which is covered in twigs and rocks and is slightly wet, is being way too comfy right now. Like it's trying to seduce you or something. Hehehe, seductive dirt.

You try to get up but some jokester decided to turn up the gravity just then. After a bit more struggling you give up and just lay there. You watch the birds flying around and make up long dramatic stories for the leaves. Until a snake comes up to you. It's slithers over you and decides you're warm enough to constitute sleeping on. Hehe, slithers is such a weird word. Slithers. Sssslllliiiithththththeeeeer rr

rrsssss. SssllliiiTHERSSS! Slithethers. Slithersslithersslithers! Therslis! Slislithertherthers. Heheheheheh! Words are weird.

You lay there with a dopey grin on your face as the snake claims his/her place kinda sprung about your torso. Wait no, not sprung. Some other word. What was is again? Your still thinking about the word when you fall asleep. Sprung. Sproing. Flailed. Thrown. Expanded. Retched. Uncoiled. Ummm. These aren't right. Well their kinda right in their own way. But not in the way that you intend for them to be right! Wait... so, they're right they're just not the right right. Language is confusing when you can't find the right right word to use.

Spread. That's the word you were looking for. Is one of the two things that you realize upon waking. The other is that this is not where you fell asleep. On a side note, the snake is still with you. You're mildly confused and disturbed that you were captured and kept alive. In relative luxury to boot. You look around and notice the painfully blatant dark purple, black, and pink color scheme. You have a brief flashback to when you were with Eridan, those were dark times.

You get up and shamelessly snoop through the interior, during which the snake somehow ends up twined about your arms and shoulders. It seems to like you. You think you'll call it Fredrick. Fredrick Barneby Worchermister. Anywho, during said snoop you found some needle-wand things, a white sphere, a self written book about wizards, and a thick black tome about monsters or something.

You're tempted to go back to sleep and possibly recall some of your dream, which was undoubtedly random as fuck even though you cant remember jack-shit about it. But you put everything back instead. No use having this girl know you were snooping. Frankly, it's either a girl or a cross-dresser... you give a small shudder at the horrible memories that spring up at the thought. Cross-dressing is fine, in your opinion. When they do it well that is.

You force yourself to stop dwelling on these thoughts and sit on the bed. You're not going to lay down, because now Fredrick is coiled around your stomach. You probably look as if you're waiting for her when the girl opens the door to the room. You probably look like you're pissed and deadly. You also probably look like you just don't give a shit. Whatever you actually look like, it doesn't seem to faze her when she does enter. She gives you a slight nod and sits down in a chair you obviously didn't overlook during your snooping.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss. My name is Rose Lalonde. I'm going to ask you some questions. Would you be so kind as to answer the truthfully?" She says.

"Kind? No. Curious? Exceedingly. I propose that we use a sort of trading policy. For every question you ask me, the next question shall be one I ask you. Objections?" You say. For some reason talking with her makes you want to talk all fancy-like and use big-ish words.

"I suppose I won't be getting any worthwhile information out of you if I deny your request. Although, I am interested as to what you'd be curious about. I have no objections on the matter, and I am assuming I'll be going first. So: are you planning on harming any of those residing within the confines of my village?" she asks.

"I can't say I was planning on it. Buy of course that isn't to say that any encounters that I may or may not have with them in the near or far future will be quite as civil as this one. At a certain individuals request I shall try to refrain from seriously injuring any of them if I can." You say.

"Yes, I can see why one such as yourself might find the need to harm others in certain situations. I believe it's your question now." She says.

"Yes, now, are you planning on killing me or informing others that might want to kill me that you have me in custody?" You ask.

"Yes actually. I was planning on leaving you here alone, in this neigh inescapable room, to go inform my extremely deadly cohort who knows of your presence that I found you passed out on the forest floor." she says with the barest hint of a smirk hidden in her sardonic smile.

"I'll take that as a no. Also as an insult. if I'm right, well played. If I'm wrong, well played." You say. Mind games are so your forte it's not even funny.

Time passed, more questions were exchanged, along with snarks buried within snarks buried within tests covered with blatant lies and sprinkled in the occasional truth. It was settled that you would spend the duration of your stay in the village, in a guest cabin of course. It seems that there was an abandoned one that people seem to think is haunted. You've dealt with noisy ghosts before, so it's cool. You've found a safe house through Rose, also an informant, along with a mental sparring partner, and possibly formed a tentative friendship. And then there's Fredrick. Fredrick's awesome.

The thought you seem to have been thinking since your birth has been so overused lately that you must use it again: Humans are fucking weird.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: of awakenings, findings, and dreams.

Well, what you've been wanting to happen has finally happened! Just not in the way you wanted. Bethy is here but... _they_ want her dead! The other two you can sorta understand, well Dave is an ignorant fuckass and Roxy... okay, you could never understand Roxy, but still! Why would John do that? He's always been so nice, and pacifistic, and... NOT WANTING TO HURT PEOPLE! So, you resolve to ask him about it. Predictably, you find him in his cabin around sunset. Rose is there too, but you don't know if that'd be predictable or not.

"Hey John! Can I talk to you about... things?" You say after barging into his house uninvited.

"Hello Cassidy. But, if you're here to confess your unconquerable love for him, it would be advisable for me to stay and translate Johns embarrassment into something more understandable." Rose says, while Johns turning red and you're rolling your eyes at the obvious joke.

"No Rose, I'm not into guys. Besides, it's not something romantic. It's just that I don't think he'd want you to know about it." You say. She leaves with a nod, and heads to that empty cabin. Huh.

"So, um, what did you want to talk about?" John says, drawing your attention back to important things.

"Well, see, I was told about how you guys have to kri-kill some people called Omegas if you ever saw them." You say.

John nods slowly, like he's doesn't want it to be true. Maybe he won't kill her!

"I was also told why you need to kill them. But I thought you didnt like hurting people John! Why would you agree to be in a group that goes around killing innocent people?" You ask.

"But, they aren't innocent!" He says. "Cassidy, they're the children of trolls and humans. That kind of... mingling was never approved of. They were born guilty."

You stare at him with your mouth hanging open. You try to process what he just said. They didnt do anything. The crime was committed before they were born. But they were living crimes. So they needed justice through death. You fail to process and end up stunned.

He gets up from his seat with a concerned look on his face. But you don't see this, you're to busy seeing piles and piles of corpses. Troll, Human, Omega, and John was there with his hammer covered in their blood. You feel your face heat in anger at this sight. He puts a hand on your shoulder and you jump, seeing him in his cabin once again.

"Cassidy, are you alright? You look really pale." He says.

"Would you kill one? If you met one, would you look them in the eyes and kill them?" You say, voice lacking it's usual joy.

John didn't say anything. He wouldn't meet your eyes either. You shake your head and leave. So... John's a murderer. If that's what this stupid group does, you guess Roxy's like that too. Oh yeah, and Dave. Two of your best friends turn out to be cold blooded killers, it makes you wonder about the others. Rose... it's happened before with her. Jake and Jade are hunters. At least Janes still on your side, isn't she? Then... then there's Dirk. How does he know so much? You don't trust him as far as you can throw him, now at least. But it's pretty obvious to you that Bethy's taken with him. Now she's here and hiding for her life from your "friends" who want her death. You're protecting the creature that could mean the end of your race. Everything's so topsy turvy now. Black is white, up is down, good is bad. You wonder when your life went so weird.

You decide to talk to Dad about the whole thing. He's grounded, unlike you, so maybe he can give you some good advice. You walk to his cabin and knock, he answers, you come in. You tell him about your problems. How you've realized that almost all your friends are killers, and how betrayed you feel. You expect him to share some speech on how to pick your friend and nobody's perfect. But he surprises you when he says

"Are you sure that they're the ones that are wrong?"

"Of course! Killing is wrong!" You say immediately.

"Did you ever think they'd be scared to tell you, knowing how you'd react?" he says

You pause. Well, John did seem nervous when he told you. Maybe they were just scared. You hug him as thanks and leave. Doesnt change the fact that they're killers though. As you leave you see Rose talking to Roxy. You think they're talking about that old cabin. Huh.

You decide to go try to wheedle some information out of Dirk. And you would have too! If he wasn't on the other side talking to that four horned one troll.

"Dirk there ith no fucking way that you're going to get me to join your little club or whatever the fuck it ith." it's mean, but you laugh a little at his lisping.

"Come on Sollux, you now damn near everything about us, the humans, and your fucking queen bitch. Why the hell aren't you putting that to use?" Dirk says

"Why the fuck should I give a shit about thome rathe ath weak ath them! Before you athk, no. Jutht becauthe I don't care about them doethn't mean I'll go out of my way to get them killed." Sollux says.

"Yeah, I'm gonna believe that. If you don't join, we'll be forced to keep an eye on you and kill you if we deem fit. You're saying you'd rather have that than give up a few hours of your pathetic life." Dirk says.

"Like I wouldn't die by joining. Either way I'm going to end up dead, so I'm taking the path where I don't have to do shit." Sollux says.

Dirk shrugs. "Your choice." He says then walks off.

You follow him, since you've kinda forgotten where the rip was. Wait, whose "we"? I might have been that organization he was talking about. But then why'd he use "we" instead of things like "they"? Unless... he's part of them! Oh no oh no oh no, if he's part of them then that means that he wants to kill Bethy! But why hasn't he done it yet? Oh my Goddess he's probably a cold hearted sadist and planning to lure her into a false sense of peace then torture her!

Half way to the rip you turn and start speed walking away. You didn't really want to talk to him anyway. You pass by Dave and Rose talking about how bad ghosts can be or something.

You wander around in the forest for a bit before you realize that you have no clue where Bethy is. That's bad. That's really, really bad. You need to warn her about the evilness of Dirk and... everyone else too! Um, the evilness of everyone, not warning everyone. You spend a few more hours searching, and come up empty. You want to go back, but you don't want to face anyone just yet. You look up and find that your feet have taken you to that old cabin no one took down for some reason.

You do the only rational thing you can do when facing a possibly haunted mystery cabin that was here before you were. You enter it. You walk in and respectfully shut the door behind you. When you do you're surprised that there's no light what-so-ever in the building. You wander in the dark for a bit and get a whole new set of bruises on your shins. Yeah, that's gonna hurt later.

You find a door down what you think is a hall and open it. You give a little half scream when a lot of somethings fall on you. Then you feel a bit silly when you find out it's a broom and a mop and some other cleaning products. You find it slightly weird when you can't find any bucket, but you can't see anyway so you shrug it off. You put everything back, after a bit... okay after a lot of dropping and fumbling.

You find another door and open this one slowly. Once you're sure that nothing will fall on you, you walk in. You decide to go around the edge of the room this time. You start imagining a spy theme song in your head. You quickly find some curtains and yank them open to let in the after noon light.

"AHSHITFUCKINGBITCHNOOKLICKER AAAHHH!" you hear followed by a thump.

You spin around and see that you're in a bedroom. You look on the other side of the bed for the source of the noise. You gasp when you see Bethy face down on the floor. The beautician in you notices how messy her dark brown hair is, but the friend in you is busy getting her to sit up.

"OOOWWW! Why the hell did you let the light in? Now I'm blind as fucking Terezi over here!" She complains loudly.

You get her up on the bed. "It's not that bright in here."

"Not for a species as ass backwards as you are maybe, but my eyes actually work in the dark. So this is FUCKING BRIGHT to me. I was planning on being nocturnal here so I wouldn't be fucking blinded every time I open my eyes." She says slinging an arm across her eyes.

You close the curtains until you can barely see, and Beth takes her arm away from her face. "Sorry. I have something really important to tell you though!" you say.

"As do I. But you go first." She says.

"Okay, well, Dirk is evil! He's with the group that want to kill you and is going to lure you into a false sense of peace then ambush you and torture you to death!" You say

Beth nods. "Well that's disconcerning. Since the way you're phrasing it makes it sound as if he won't attack until I'm in peace, I should be fine if I don't let my guard down. Now, since I'm free of danger, I'll just relax here for a while. While not seeming to relax of course, otherwise he'd attack. Then the whole thing would start over again." She says with an air of mockery that you don't pick up on somehow.

You look around in the dim lighting. It feels like Dirks going to flashstep out of nowhere and try to kill you both! You swear you jump out of your skin when you feel something slithering over you. Your flailing catches Bethy's attention.

"Hey, calm down would you! You're gonna hurt Fredrick!" She says picking up snake bigger than your arm from your lap.

"Aww, you have a pet snake! Wait, where'd you get a pet snake? You've only been here for a day." You say.

"I passed out in the forest and when I came to this little 'un was following me. So I named him Fredrick. Now... Wait, didn't I have something to tell you? It was important... Fuck what was it? Um, oh right! When I was passed out Rose found me and took me back to her place... without getting any mud anywhere. I wonder how she did it? Whatever, the point is that I believe I've formed an alliance with her." She says.

Wasnt Rose talking with... Oh no. "Bethy! Don't trust anyone, I saw Rose talking to Roxy John and Dave earlier. She could be betraying you as we speak!" You say.

"Well if that's the case, then you can stay here and protect me while I sleep. Really, that nap in the woods wasn't any help." She says sarcastically.

She may have been joking, but you think you'll do it anyway. Who knows which one of them will barge in! In any case she'll be completely defenseless. Well except for Fredrick, but you dont know how much help he'll be. You close the curtains all the way and head to the living room. Where you find more curtains and fling them open so you can see. Then, since you'll be protecting her, you search for a weapon. You're surprised, and mildly disturbed, when you find what looks like an armory. She's been here for a day, who exactly was here before her? You find your preferred weapon, a simple wooden staff, and take it. It doesn't even cross your mind that you're stealing.

You return to the living room, weapon in hand. Now, you wait.

You quickly come to understand that waiting is really boring. So boring that you succumb to the temptation to play the piano for a good few hours. You compose as you go, the thought of her waking up not occurring to you. Predictably, to anyone that isn't you, someone hears and comes to investigate. But you don't notice that someone come in since it's late and you're busy being asleep on the piano.

You're nudged by something, then you feel something on you. You assume it's Fredrick and go back to sleep/unconsciousness. Your mind drifts back to the dream you had the other night. Wasn't there something about snakes being bad? And goats, something about goats too. A snake goat! No that's a Capricorn. No a Capricorn is a fish goat. Weren't the snakes and goats fighting? You never did like snakes all that much, but you've never met a goat.

Something nudges you again and you make a sound that you meant to be. "I'm not getting up." but turned out more like "Mmm nt gitnn uhp..."

"Wake the fuck up!" You hear being hissed at you as you're jabbed again.

You jolt up to the standing position. Your first thought being /holy shit Fredrick can talk?!/ but then you see Dave with his sword and realize it was just him. You stumble away in search of a more comfortable place to sleep, then stop in the hallway entrance. There's something wrong here. Something bad's going on. You were meant to do something. you turn to Dave and abruptly remember what's going on.

You freeze in panic, only to relax a few seconds later when you see Fredrick slithering over to Dave threateningly. You didn't know that something could slither threateningly.

"Cassidy, what the ever-loving fuck are you doing here?" Dave asks.

"I'm keeping the old place tidy. Why are you here?" You retaliate.

"There've been rumors of a weird grey thing in the woods. Seeing as how this hiding place is so predictable Jake could figure it out, thought I'd come kill a troll." He says. Shit, he's serious about this.

You really hope Bethy isn't here right now. If he finds her its all over! You look at Fredrick and see him about to bite Dave.

"Fredrick stop!" You say.

He actually stops. That is one weird snake. Dave looks down and moves to kick him away, but he decides to slide up Dave's leg and to his neck.

"What the shit?" Dave says.

"Well it seems that Fredrick has you in a head-lock. I wouldn't move too much if I were you." You hear behind accompanied by a yawn.

You turn around and fuck it's Bethany. She looks like she just got up, except for the swords strapped to her waist. Dave looks at her, and you wonder how he can see anything with those shades on.

"So you're the troll. I'm surprised you haven't tried to kill anyone yet with how violent and crazy your kind is." He says, but he didn't move.

"Not exactly. See I'm not a troll." She says walking into the moonlight. "But then again, I'm not quite human either. I think you know what that means." She says with a devious look.

"Oh so you're one of those hybrid monstrosities that shouldn't exist." Dave said but didn't make any move to hurt her.

Fredrick prepared to bite him, poisoned fangs glistening in the moon light. Or you could just be over dramatizing things again.

"Aye, that's me. But there's really not much you can do about it, is there?" she's just teasing him now.

"Bethy! What are we gonna do with him? He know's now and we cant keep Fredrick on him forever!" You say.

"Oh that's an easy one. We kill him." She says offhandedly.

"No! Bethy we're not going to kill him!" You say

"But Cat, if I don't kill him then he'll kill me. And you said it yourself, Fredrick can't stay like that forever. What else are we gonna do?" she says.

"Uhh, Dave! Do you want to live?" You ask.

"Nope. I'm suicidal, and I've always wanted for my death to be by snake. Let 'er rip." He says.

"It's unanimous! Lets kill 'im." She says.

"Wait! Dave, if you want to live then you have to swear on your life to not kill Bethy." You say

"How do I know she won't kill anyone?" He asks.

"Alright. You don't kill me, and you don't try to get anyone else to kill me, and I won't kill anyone that's a human. Deal?" She says with a huff.

"Now how do I know you aren't lying?" He asks

"Bitch please, I actually use the honor code." She says flipping him off.

"Okay. Deal or no deal?" You say

He nods. So does she. Fredrick, the scarily smart reptile, abandons Dave. Then Dave and Bthey just stare each other down for a bit.

"Hey Cat, how aren't you dead yet?" Dave asks.

"Same reason you ain't, Strider." Bethy says

You swear you can feel tension in the air. Specifically between them. You feel like you could smack the tension with your staff. Dave leaves and Bethy retrieves Fredrick.

"So, what are we gonna do now? We can't keep you hidden from them anymore." You say.

"True. But now, because of that little incident, I'm in relative safety. I'll still be nocturnal, and they'll still try to kill me. Frankly very little has changed, but what has is relatively important. So although the situation hasn't actually changed enough to allow me any freedom, it has changed enough to allow me to start exceedingly biased negotiations. Which will probably get me nowhere by itself, but possibly could if some specific elements went into play. Or something. Did you understand any of that?" She says, stroking Fredrick.

"I like frogs." You say.

"That's what I thought. If you're going to take anything away from that, let it be this: don't ask me questions when I'm tired or the answers won't make sense." She says and walks out into the night.

You shrug and head back to your cabin. So now Dave's the good guy? Is that whats happening? You fall asleep instantly when you hit the mattress, not being bothered to even undress.

That night you dreamt that you were part of a dying race that had weird blood colors. The lighter the blood the more human they looked. The darker the blood the more troll they looked.

Then the fires were lit.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: of fires, uneasy alliances, and kidnappings.

You take a stroll around the village, taking care to stay out of sight. Now that a lack of sleep and adrenaline isn't making you act stupid you can actually take stock of the place. Oh yeah and the sunlight thing. Sunlight is evil.

Anywho, it's a... good village. With a deep river on one side and thick forests surrounding the others, it would be fairly hard for raiders to mount an attack. Buildings seem structurally sound, if made of wood. All in all, it's a seemingly sleepy little place. It's like it's in a fucking coma it's so sleepy. Seeming.

Fredrick creeps off you and heads toward the brush. You let him go, it's not like you own him or anything. You watch him as he goes up to the base of a tree and did that shadow just move? Probably just your imagination working overtime and trying to freak you out. Again. It's always doing that and hey where'd Fredrick go? He was right there, then the shadow... Yeeeeaaaaah that's odd. You'll let your imagination run with that later.

But on a relatively more important note, Cat says you can't trust anyone. On an exceedingly more important note, you swear that Dave kid is following you! And lastly on the most important note, why is the cabin Cat went into on fire?

Two options. one: find the arsonist. Or two: rescue Cat. Like that's even a decision.

"Oi Dave!" You say. "Go wake up everyone and try to find who did this."

He comes out of the shadows to do as you said, apparently. You knew it, you fucking knew he was following you like a creepy stalker dude!

Whatever, you sprint to the cabin that's busy being engulfed in flames. Front door? What front door! You go around back in search of a window, not even thinking it might be locked, and find one that leads into what you can only assume is a bathroom. You try to open it, and of course it's locked! With a quick thought of _fuck this_ you wrap your hand in your sweatshirt and punch the glass in. You'll deal with the repercussions of that act later! For now you jump through the hole, personal injuries the farthest thing from your mind, and almost break down the door. Then you realize that you need to _turn the knob_ and berate yourself for being an idiot. You run down the hallway in the thankfully (and unfortunately) small building. You find her bedroom, the only other door in the hall, and of course it's fucking locked too.

By now the flames are having a rave in the living room and if they try'd to invite you, well you didn't notice. You're too busy throwing your shoulder into the door. Finally, you get smart and attack the hinges instead. Thankfully they're weak and HOLY SHIT MUFFINS YOUR LEG IS ON FIRE! You quickly bat it out while trying not to flip out. The adrenaline is helping a lot on the not-flipping-out front. Now that you're fire-free you successfully break the door off it's weakened hinges and find Cat passed out on her bed. Who the fuck can sleep through that?! Thinking time is later, acting time is now!

You sheath your swords, because you didn't hack the hinges apart with your hands, and pick her up bridal-style and shit- fucking dead weight! Wow this is like one of Karkats crappy movies. Unfortunately for you the only way out is through the front door, window no longer being an option. You decide to chance it and sprint through the fire.

_You really should have thought this out better. If Dave did what you told him, everyone will be out there. If you go out there they will kill you._

_Fuck you Common Sense. I'll figure it out somehow._

You make it to the door and, not thinking at all, throw her body out of the flames. Dave, who you didn't actually see there, caught her and took her to the others. With the life of your moirail safe, you two agreed on it earlier, you feel the adrenaline fading. Damn your suicidal tendencies. Making you not care when your own life is in danger. Fucking, whatever!

You go back to the bathroom to escape out the window. To make sure it's safe you look out it. Of fucking course there are people out there! Abandoning the plan of the window, you run around like a chicken with it's head cut off and hope to find some stairs. Luckily, you do! Unluckily, they're on fire too. Why must everything be an up-hill battle? You plow through the flames in the living room to the flames on the stairs and are probably on fire yourself by now. Pain! Air! Heat! You can't stand the heat!

You try not to suffocate on the smoke as you head into the attic that you somehow knew was there... Thinking later! Latch **latch** **latch** where's the _**latch**_!? You keep feeling the roof for a latch to open the roof door to the, well, roof. You find it and escape to the highest part of the house when your lungs are about to stop giving a shit on whether or not you live and you doubt there's a ladder down and with your luck the house will explode for some obscure reason with you on it. You contemplate jumping down, and seeing as how that's the only idea you have, you jump. As stealthily as you can you land/roll onto the ground with a thud and a few curses. Okay more than one thud and a lot of curses when you trip, but whose counting!

You look back and see that the entire place is now up in flames. Holy shit, if you had taken the time to think of a plan that wouldn't potentially break your legs you'd be a burning man... woman... whatever. You run away from the people that will undoubtedly come that are not there yet. You can't tell if you're screaming or not, all you know is that breathing is a thing that must be done. You think the house is starting to collapse behind you but **PAIN!**

You, being slightly on fire, run to the nearest water source. Said source being a large creek/river not far past the edge of the forest. By some miracle (har de har har Gamzee) none of the greenery catches fire. You dive into the water, and successfully put out the flames. You also succeed in making every injury throb painfully due to the water rubbing your clothes on them and the water itself. The pain blends into one big pulsing mess and you don't know if you have a few severe injuries or many measly ones, and frankly you don't care enough to find out. You, being one of the few low bloods able to swim, tread water for a bit longer and wait for the freezing water to numb you. Curse your shortness, you can't touch the fucking bottom. You realize your sweat shirt is still in the house. Like fuck you're going back for it.

"Glad to see you got out alive." You hear a light baritone voice say beside you. Why are you thinking about music?

"Fuck you and fuck your luses." You say flipping him off without turning to face him. Like you wouldn't make it out. You've made it out of worse with your legs tied together!

"Well I don't have a luses, but the idea certainly is appealing." he says

You turn and splash at him, thinking he was farther back than he was. What greets you is the sight of a soaked Dirk Strider sitting on the bank. You can't help laughing for some reason. His expression is neutral, but to you it feels like he's irritated. On a completely unrelated note: laughing while swimming is not easy, especially when one is tired and injured.

"Sorry Dirk, I thought you were Dave." You say once calmed.

He shrugs, stands, and starts peeling off his shirt. He's either giving you a strip tease, or getting more comfortable. You decide its the latter, but that doesn't mean you can't appreciate it as the former. Either way his pants remain on. He's not weak, thats for sure. But he's less bulky and more wiry. But then Equius' amount of buffness always kind of creeped you out. He caches you staring at him and smirks.

"Like what you see?" He says and flexes.

You're pretty sure you blush a bit at that, but you're also pretty sure he can't see it. "Humans are weird. You're all pink and squishy and non-lethal looking." You say

"Looks can be deceiving." He says. "So how badly did Cassidy flip out?"

"She slept through the entire thing. Even when I broke down her door." You say rubbing a numbed shoulder wound.

He grabs your arm. It looks like he's looking at the rather large blood blister on it. You realize that you've been drifting closer to the bank, and now you're practically leaning on it. He twists your arm and pain lances through your shoulder. In retrospect, ramming the door wasn't a good idea. He takes the time to look at some of your other injuries too. Most of them are news to you. Like the burn on the side of your neck going down your back, no more shirt there, and the numerous bruisings, and the free flowing cuts on your face and arms, was that from the rolling or going through the window?

"Damn what the hell did you do in there, wrestle Equius?" He says letting you go.

"Is it really that bad?" You say trying to look at the burns on your back.

"Yes. You look like you got ambushed then gang raped by twenty flaming walls on a broken glass pile." He says.

You would have said something that was obviously amazing, but Dave chose that moment to show up. So instead you say

"How's Cat?"

Okay so maybe you are related to these squishy things, in some obscure way of course.

"Alive. You got any idea how she got drugged?" He says, making it pretty clear that he thinks you do.

"Dave, take three seconds out of your pathetic life to think for once will you? If I was the dumbass who did drug her, why would I risk my life trying to save her?" You say. You hate being accused of things only idiots think you did.

"To make us trust you." He says.

"... Okay, that's a good reason. But I didn't do it Dave. It was either someone here or a troll with a plan. You find the arsonist?" You say

"No, everyone seems innocent." He says

"So how are we gonna find then without acting like investigators or some shit and giving away your little undercover operation?" You ask, acting like you could't give less of a shit.

"We know it wasn't Roxy or John. The only other ones that she's close to are Jade Jane Jake and Rose. We'll check them first." Dirk says.

"They have alibis?" You ask

"Well I have no idea where they were but I know they wouldn't do it." Dave says offended seeming. Probably because you just indirectly insulted his moirail. At least you think they're moirails.

"Yeah, neither would the rest of them. What ever happened to 'Guilty until proven innocent'?" You say. If Terezi were here, they'd all be condemned already.

"It's the reverse here, 'Innocent until proven guilty'." Dirk says

"Wow. Our societies are more different than I thought they were." You say, trying to wrap your head around the fact that humans are just that stupid.

"At least we're not so biologically fucked up that our fucking blood colors are different." Dave says

"We've lost track of the conversation. Weren't we talking about who drugged Cassidy and set fire to her house? Or was I just imagining that." Dirk says

"Fuck off Bro. We still don't know which assmunch did it." Dave says.

"Well mayhaps Cat can tell us when she wakes up. Unless the drug was a poison that is." You say calmly.

"Geez don't get all worked up over the fact that she might be dead. Why the hell are you even here?" He says. Maybe he was irritated by your apathy when faced with a companions death.

"The cold water numbs the wounds so I'm not in as much pain." You say, knowing full well what he meant.

"In this world dumbass." He says

"Well for an answer for that question you'd have to ask... Where'd he go." You say, turning to where Dirk was not long ago, but isn't now. "Yeah, whatever. Come find me when everyones dispersed." You dive under and swim in the opposite direction.

When you surface and start gasping for breath, you realize that you have no fucking clue where you are. Fuck. Your legs are numb, as you found out when you tried to actually walk, and you're lost AGAIN! You proceed to stumble through an unknown part of forest, but then again you know barely any of the surrounding land well enough to not be lost in it. You wonder why Dirk just disappeared like that.

You hear something move and freeze. Listening for anything you turn in a circle. Directly behind you, you see Nepeta. Except she's all "ghosty", as Cat would say. It takes you a moment to realize that you're seeing into your world. You take another moment to wonder how her matespritship with Terezi is these days. You decide to sit and watch her while the feeling returns to your legs and you dry off.

She's as hyper as ever. Chasing butterflies and other bugs. You assume she's not hunting right now, she's probably just playing, seeing as how you heard her. This portal shit is awesome for spying, you could find out anything! Like who all's out to get you! Well, if they decide to talk about it that is. Really you're just invisibly stalking them, which is kinda creepy. But it's not like you have many other choices right now. You guess you should follow either Gamzee or Kanaya to find out all of them.

You look around and spot Aradia carrying something. Something human shaped. She's carrying Cat.

"I don't know Nepeta. Do you really think this'll work?" Aradia says.

"I'm One-hundred purrcent sure!" Nepeta says sitting still.

"But this is just some random girl, how will taking her make Bethany come to us?" Aradia says.

"Well you saw them running together didn't you? Beth wasn't trying to hurt her, and you know how violent she is. I think she cares about this one!" Nepeta says happily.

"If you're wrong, we're going to be paying for it for a while. Come, we should bring her to the Senior agents." Aradia says and begins walking away.

You sit there. You don't know whether to go after her or not. If you do you're playing right into their hands. If you don't then Cat's drugged and alone in a place where everything wants to either kill her or use her and then kill her. Your too preoccupied with this train of thought to hear when Aradia says

"Why do you think she hasn't woken up yet?"

You get up and head towards to portal. You're gonna get Cat back, and somehow escape their clutches. Whoever "they" are this time around. You must have been running on auto-pilot because you stopped just before running into the still shirtless Dirks chest. Your short, he's tall, it'd not hard to guess where your face would end up.

"Dirk, get outta my way! I'm headin back!" You say, not thinking about how wrong you were about the squishy thing.

"You're not heading back." He says.

"Yes I am! They have Cat and I'm going to get her before someone kills her." You say and try to step around him. You get around him, but he grabs your arm and drag/throws you in front again. You decide to stay in front because fuck that hurt.

"Who has Cassidy, and why?" He says

"Aradia and Nepata have her so that I'll come get her then they'll ambush me or some shit, fact of the matter being that I AM going after her." You say.

"They're going to kill you." He says

"I fail to see the point of that argument. I also fail to see the reason you brought me here in the first place." You say.

"I brought you here so you wouldn't die, so there's no way in fuck I'm letting you run off and ruin all that work." He says.

"Why do you care whether or not I die? In fact, if I'm not mistaken, you should want me dead." You say.

He goes quiet. You try to dart past him, but he puts his arm in front of your face and you barely stop before being clothes lined. You look side-ways at him. He's still for a few more moments before turning and walking to the portal.

"If you're going I'm coming with you." He says over his shoulder.

You follow him. Well that's gonna be a hindrance. But you'll have the extra protection and wait you actually trust this guy to protect you? Yes apparently. Fuck, humans are rubbing off on you with their blindly trusting people shit. You realize what you must look like, having just come out of a flaming building alive. Covered in wounds, clothes burnt beyond repair, almost soaking wet, carrying your swords, and pissed as fuck all. In short, hell on legs.

You're going to face death for a girl you practically just met whose not the same species as you, and trusting your life to someone you barely know who is also not the same species as you while being threatened from almost all sides by those you're close to and those you barely know. Just another motherfucking day in this motherfucking paradise. What a life.

Oh, hey, Fredrick's back!


	8. Chapter 8

Authors note: if this seems shitty-er than usual, then it's because I'm a huge procrastinator and it's a bit of a rush job. Also the next few Chapters may or may not be from not just Cassidy and Bethanys perspectives. If that makes sense. I know the next one won't be but after that... well I rarely plan anything beyond... anything. Whatever. New chapter. Enjoy or critique or something.

Chapter eight: of trolls, runaways, and houses.

You wake up and your head feels groggy. Like you're coming out of a dense fog... or something. You look out the window and oh shit it's already afternoon! You try to get up and get to work on making yourself look more presentable but your almost jerked backwards by your arm. You, on your back, look up and see that your wrist is tied to the bed post. After fooling around for a bit you realize that you aren't going anywhere. After freaking out a bit more than a bit Miss Curly Horns comes in.

"Oh good, I was starting to think you'd never wake up. It's a pleasure to meet you my names Aradia." She says, holding out a hand for your free one to shake. She... doesn't talk like you thought a troll would talk.

"Hi Aradia, I'm Cassidy!" You say and shake your hand because you want to make a good first impression. "But, why am I tied to the bed?"

"Right. That. Um." She takes a seat on the bed and you sit up. "That's really more for your protection than anything. If you woke up and just walked outside, they would probably kill you before we could do anything. If you want I can take it off, if you promise not to leave the house that is." She says.

You nod and promise. Wait... ... Oh my- You're on the trolls side! How are you here? "How exactly did I end up on this side?" You say, absentmindedly rubbing your wrist after she'd untied you.

"Well, we wanted to get Bethany to come here and you two seem close so... we kind of kidnapped you." She says with a guilty smile.

"Are you one of the trolls that want her dead?!" You say followed by a gasp.

She says yes then a whole bunch of reasons why it's right that you already heard John say then she says she has to leave. There is no way you're staying here and contributing to Bethy's death! You look out the window to see if anyones guarding you. Yes, no ones out there! Wait. All the trolls here are trained guards and _will_ kill you. Shit! Now how are you supposed to get out?

You dink around for a while and hope an idea hits you like a hammer to the face, except not because that would hurt. But it doesn't and you don't know if that's good or bad. What does happen is that a troll comes in and it looks like she's hiding. You hide from her because you're scared of trolls. Then you realize it's Fefer- the Princess. Bethy's harped on you enough by now for calling her by her name and not her title to make you try to break the habit. Wait, isn't she really nice and understanding? Hey, maybe she won't try to kill you! Oooh and maybe she'll help you get back home! This idea is starting to sound better and better.

"Um, are you here to kill me?" You say coming somewhat out of the closet. Wait... wow. You idly think that you've become more perverted since you met Bethy.

"Hm? Oh! No! I'd never hurt anemone! I'm just hiding from Eridan. He's been so overbearing lately." Her words stop when she actually looks at you. Only your head is showing so far.

You wait for her to freak out or something, but she just sits there beneath the window with her mouth open. You show the rest of yourself.

"Are you alright?" You ask.

"Are... Are you a human?" She asks bewildered.

"Yeah, that's why I thought you'd krill me. I mean kill." You say. Wow she's really pretty.

She laughs. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. But I always thought humans were just a myth?" She says/asks.

"Well, we live in a different world. But there's a way to travel to the other world. But I was kidnapped here! So that my moirail would come so they could krill her! I mean kill!" You say getting slightly worked up about it.

"They fishnapped you?! ... Here, come back with me and I'll kelp you as much as I can." She says holding out a clawed hand to you.

You look at the claws for a moment. They don't look anything like what Bethy calls claws. For one, they're yellow! And they're long, and thick, and sharp, and yellow! You realize you've been staring and take her hand. She smiles and leads you out the door and runs.

By the time you reach her place, you've hidden in over fifty different places and seen a lot of new trolls, with the Princess giving a little story about each of them and their name. The inside of her house is... pink. Every thing in here is some shade of pink. The color scheme seems to be fuchsia.

"Oh, I don't even minnow your name yet! I'm Feferi by the wade." She says sitting down on one of her chairs.

"I'm Cassidy. But Bethy always calls me Cat." You say, looking at the weird tub-thing off to the side of the room that's filled with slime.

"Okay Catfish!" You giggle at the new nickname. "Wait, are you carping aboat Bethany?" You nod. "She's the one they want to krill?" You nod. "Well that's... weird. Sure she's a mutant, but if that was all then why let her live so long?"

"Bethy's a mutant?" You ask.

"Yeah. She doesnt have any horns, her eyes are reelly weird, and her blood color isn't even close to any on the hemospectrum. It's almost pike she's not even a troll." She says.

You decide not to tell her that she's an Omega. If she didn't tell anyone then it's probably for a good reason.

"So, how are you going to get back?" She says snapping you out of your thoughts.

"Well, there's a rip in the forest that'll take me back. But once they notice I'm gone they'll probably be guarding it. If it's alright with you, Princess, I think I'll just stay here and wait for Bethy to come. I'm not all that good at fighting." You say.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Bethany, pike the others low on the spectrum, seems to think that if they do so much as glub to me then I'll behead them. No it'd be betta if I took you to someone she trusts more. Gamzee!" She says.

"Oh, no. Gamzee's one of the ones that want her dead. How about Karkat? It's not... exactly trust, but he won't kill me. Right?" You ask.

"That... might work. Yeah." She says.

She tells you to hide and calls two others in. She tells them to get Karkat Vantas and even though Gamzees frowning they go. It dooesnt take long for them to come back with the small troll in-between them. She brings him into the room and closes the door, keeping out her guards. Karkat looks scared.

"If you're going to fucking cull me then why the fuck would you want to do it in your respite block? Unless you have some kind of fucked up fetish about seeing my blood on your walls or some other creepy fucking shit like that." He says. You think he was going to say more but then the Princess put a hand on his shoulder.

"Karkat, clam down, I didn't call you here to krill you. In fact, I actually wanted your kelp with something. You can come out now." She says in a soothing voice.

You come out from your hiding place behind her desk and wave. "Hi Karkat, my names Cassidy."

He stands in shock for a moment. Then you proceed to have a conversation that's very similar to the one you had with Fefe- the Princess. Then after Karkat's poked you a bit and made vulgar a comment about something, the Princess tells him about your little dilemma.

"No. Fuck no. There is no fucking way I am doing anything to help that raging bitch. I would rather die than help her. I would rather let Gamzee kill me than help her! I am NOT going to-" He gets cut off by Feferi's raised hand.

"Karkat, I'm ordering you to hide and protect her until Bethany comes to get her." She says.

There's a beat of silence before Karkat growls and yells and cusses a whole bunch of words that pretty much meant "I'll do it, but I don't want to." Then Karkat leads you to a little cluster of little shacks and shoves you into one. You try to make conversation with him but every thing you say he shoots down with a glare. Are all trolls this angry? He tells you to stay put, but with a lot more words and he called you a bulge slut. Whatever that means. Then he left. And you're left to waiting. You seem to be doing a lot of that lately. Maybe you should do something, but what? You could try to go back, but that's stupid because they're probably guarding it. You could try to takedown Aradia, but then she's a troll and has friends here. You could camp out _by_ the rip and wait for her, but they're guarding it. Wow, there's really nothing constructive you can do. So you wait.

Feferi (She said that you can call her that, and that "lowbloods" only refer to her with her title because they think she'll hurt them if they don't.) stopped by a few times as the day wore on. You asked her about troll things like horns and luseses... lusi? Is it just luses? Who cares? Anyway, she talked with you for a while and asked about human things. Karkat came in once and you asked him why he hates Bethy so much.

"Why the fuck would you ask that? It's not like there's any baggage attached to the answer or anything." He says

"Sorry. I thought it was just... like she rubbed you the wrong way or something." You say.

"How the shit are you still alive?" You give him a confused look and he goes on. "Beth is the most violent, crazy, murderous, and defensive person I know. She also has just enough strength to back it up. You're a weak human with no weapons training, or training at all. You're even stupider than Tavros! Why the hell hasn't she killed you yet?"

"Um, maybe because I interest her? I don't know man. I don't even know how I became her moirail." You say.

He pauses at that and gives you a deadpan look. "You're fucking kidding me. You're her _moirail_!" You think he would have continued but then Feferi comes in and he stops talking.

"Catfish? We have a bit of a problem. You said that Bethany was going to come here because you were taken, right?" You nod. "Whale, if you two reely are moryeels, then she's probably out for blood." She says.

You realize she's right. With what little you saw of her actually killing, you know she likes it and you know she's good at it. You hope she doesn't try to krill these guys.

More time passes and the only mentionable thing that happens is that you found what looked to be a really old drawing set and started drawing murals on Karkats walls. That is until he came back and started shouting at you to stop. Then Feferi comes back around what you assume to be dusk and Karkat comes in to sleep. Then Bethy walks in with one of her swords drawn and looks like... like she needs to rest. You notice Fredrick trailing behind her. What really surprises you is when Dirk walks in behind her. She sees your company and stiffens momentarily before grabbing you and trying to abscond.

"C'mon Cat, let's get the fuck outta here." She says

"Oh my cod, Bethany what happened to you?" Feferi says, interrupting Bethy before she can leave.

"Princess, it would be in your best interest to not be involved in this at all." Bethy says

They argue some more, but where you're attention is focused is on Dirk. Once he got in here he's just been staring out the window. Then there's Karkat. You know Bethy hates him in some sort of weird troll romance way, but he's just looking out a different window and acting like Bethy isn't even there.

"They know that we know by now." Karkat says, interrupting the argument.

"Yeah, you two are essentially dead as of now." Bethy says. "C'mon lets go."

"Bethy, what do you mean Feferi and Karkat are pretty much dead?" You say stopping her.

She looks to Dirk. "The ones who took you here did it to lure Bethany here so they could kill her. They want to kill her because they don't want anyone to know about the humans, and she does. Now, they know too." Dirk says.

"Well then why can't they come with us, back to the human world?" You say.

"It's their problem, let them deal with it Cat." Bethy says.

"We can't just leave them here to die!" You say.

Bethy just raises an eyebrow, like she thinks you're stupid or something. "Bethy I'm not leaving here without them!" You say and yank your arm out of her grasp. You go over and hug Feferi. "If you're taking me, you'll have to take them too!"

Okay _now_ she's looking at you like you're an idiot. Hmm, hugging Feferi feels nice. Wait, you're standing you're ground! Bethy sigh/growls exasperatedly. That doesn't seem like it should be a word.

"If we take them, our chances of survival are slim to none." Dirk says.

"I honestly never thought we'd be makin' it out alive anyhow. Cat quit yer fussin' and let's go. The Princess and crab ass over there can come too if they want but we really need to be goin'. Any signs of 'em?" Bethy says

"We're clear. For now." Karkat says.

You nod and let go of Feferi, well you kept ahold of her arm but you weren't all over her anymore. Bethy went out, followed by Dirk, then you and Feferi, with Karkat bringing up the end. She leads you all into the forest and towards the rip. As you thought before, it's being guarded. But by only one troll. Sollux. Dave's beside him. Dirk walks foreword.

"Didn't think you'd be taking sides in this Captor." Dirk says.

"Fuck you Thtrider. I've had a change of heart. I've dethided to cooperate for the time being." Sollux says.

Dirk looks at Dave, then Sollux, then back to Dave. Bethy walks briskly between them and through the rip, then the trolls hesitantly follow with you and Dirk bringing up the end. Surprisingly, neither of them question the fact that Karkat and Feferi are following you and neither of them even look twice at Bethy's condition. You might just have to force bed rest on her.

On the other side Feferi and Karkat immediately close their eyes in pain and Bethy says something about forgetting to warn them, even though it's only slightly brighter here than it was there. You think it's almost dusk. Bethy gives the trolls some information she thinks they'll need. Then there's the problem of where they'll be staying. Of course, you say that Feferi's more than welcome at your place. Then you say that Karkat should stay with Bethy, but they both immediately decline. He says he'll stay in the forest until something else can be figured out and leaves. You wonder how he'll see until night fall. You look around for Dirk, but he's disappeared like usual. Bethy say she's tired and is going back to bed then leaves. You lead Feferi by the hand too... Shit. Your burned down house. You tell her to stay where she is and go to find out what the hells going on. You find Jake first.

"Cassidy! Where the dickens have you been?! After Mr. Strider pulled you out of the flames you just vanished! With how often you've been missing I'm beginning to worry about you." He says while grabbing you.

"Jake I'm fine. Everything's going to be just fine. I'm not in any danger at all. But where exactly will I be sleeping?" You say and hope that you don't have to room with anyone.

"Yes, it was rather clever of the elder Mr. Egbert to see something like this coming. Exactly what I would expect from the man! He made preparations and had a number of spare cabins built quite a while back. He constructed them a ways away for some reason though." He says.

"Do you think you can show me to them?" You say.

With a righto he marches off and you follow. A while later you arrive at a beautiful clearing. You never knew the ground could be this soft. Looking back you can only barely see the village in the distance. This place is perfect for the trolls! He takes you in and there are two bedrooms in each. At least you think the other ones a bedroom. It doesn't have a bed though, just one of those tub things that you saw in Feferi's... okay. That's creepy. But you can't deny that they were made for them!

Later on you lead Feferi there, it's almost night fall by the time you reach it so she can somewhat see. You lead her to her room, the one with the recouprecoon in it. That's what she said it was at least. You think it's a funny name for a tub filled with slime, but then she probably thinks the word bed is funny.

You find that you're surprisingly tired when you get to your new room. Hm, all your stuff is gone. Burned in the fire. You guess you're sleeping in you're clothes again. You fall on the already made bed and feel a lump. You move and look to see what it is. It's folded up night clothes with a note on top that says "To Cassidy." on it.

And just like everything else in the house, it's covered in a thick layer of dust.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: of meddlings, enemies, and secrets.

It's all Nepeta's fault. If it wasn't for her being concerned about a meaningless break-up and trying to set you up with someone new, this never would have happened. You wouldn't have seen her, you wouldn't have fallen head-over-heels for her, she wouldn't have tried to follow you, you wouldn't have tried to save her, this downward spiral you're caught in would have never begun. You wouldn't be hiding idiots from your teammates, you wouldn't have dragged Bro into this, you wouldn't have risked your job your loved ones or your life to keep them safe. No, not /them/. You don't give a shit about /them/. It's to keep _her_ safe. The only reason the others are here is because her stupid moirail wanted them safe. It all boils down to Beth, and if it wasn't for Nepeta you'd have never met her.

Your name is Dirk Strider. You are hiding fugitives from your teammates right under their noses, while pretending to not be actively betraying them all, and protecting two beings you're supposed to kill on sight, dragging down your brother, possibly dooming your entire race, for a girl. It's unanimous: you're a moron. Your name is Dirk Strider, and you're positive that you just screwed yourself over.

But that's not important right now. What's important right now is making sure that those two idiots won't let any other idiots see them. Oh yeah, and making sure no one else finds out. You're guessing that Bro already knows some of it and will try to get the rest outta you later, so you'll subtly avoid him without making it seem like you're avoiding him. It wouldn't help if you went around looking suspicious. Then there's the problem of Roxy. You two have been partners ever since you joined the Foreign Affairs Response Agency, yes stupid name but it was designed stupid, and how well she can read you tends to creep you out. You're not sure how long you can keep it from her. John, now he's an idiot. Almost as much of an idiot as Jake. Which is about half as moronic as you are. But the fact that the trolls are here and you're a traitor probably wouldn't occur to either of them unless it raped him. The only other one you have to worry about is Rose. She has a way of finding things out and you're not completely sure that her weird magic shit isn't involved somehow. Jade is sharp, but her finding out wouldn't directly cause a problem. Jane is practically a subdued female John, so you're safe on that front.

Your mildly wandering attention is brought back to the task at hand when the blacksmith that you've been apprenticing under as cover says that you can take the rest of the day off. You set down the coal you brought on top of the rest and go to clean off. You don't prefer to be covered head to foot in various kind of dust. Your hands are almost as dark as your shades. Almost.

Once your skin is skin colored again you decide that you should confront Rose. She wouldn't really use any information against you, she just likes to tease. Hopefully. You find her seemingly wandering around not too far off, but then she always gives the impression that she has a plan.

"Hey Rose. I need to talk to you about something." You say in your usual monotone.

"And what might that be? What your employer is thinking, giving you the day off? Your plain-as-day infatuation? Or might it be the fact that there are non-human sentient creatures roaming our little home?" She says with the grin she uses when she knows she's got you trapped.

Fuck. She knows. Fuck! Okay, calm down. She's not going to expose you to Fedora and get you killed. Shit.

"That last one. About the creatures. What all do you know about them?" You say still in monotone.

"Quite a lot I'd like to say. Although I don't know what you're comparing my amount of knowledge to, so I can't accurately say. What exactly were you hoping to find out about them?" She says. God, you can almost feel her condescending tone.

"In that case, what kinds are there and what do they look like?" You say. You don't bother coming up with an excuse. Both of you know it'd be complete bullshit anyway.

"There are three types that I've seen. One is almost human like. Although with light grey skin, sharper teeth and nails. Another is much if the same, except for yellow claws and yellow-orange-and-red horns, also much sharper teeth if I'm not mistaken. Although I can't say I had a very good look at them from such a distance. The last was very much like the second, with the exception of different horns and what seemed to be fins on it's head. The first is the only I've had any extended contact with, so I can't give you much information on the other two. Those are the only ones that I know of." She says and begins walking.

Deciding to follow her you go over what she said. Shit. So she knows about all but one of them. Then again, you didn't know that last one for a while there. You doubt that she knows the truth herself. Rose said she's had extended contact with Beth though. That might turn into a problem.

"What all do you know about the first one?" You say.

"She's quite the talker once you get her going. Also, although she may seem rigid and unapproachable at first, once you get to know her she's rather nice. She has a soft spot for animals, especially snakes. She's told me she loves to swim. She's also mentioned that she never knew whether she would live to see the next day, so she stopped caring if she lived or not. I asked what she was doing here once, she casually replied "The fuck if I know." and that was the last we've spoken of it. She seems trust worthy to me, if not an odd target for your affections." She says, bringing that grin back.

Goddamn it! You try to resist the urge to hit something. Her, yourself, either would work right about now. Fuck, you don't even like Bro knowing your emotions and unlike Rose he wont do something with it. Fuck, fuck!

"You're delusional. But you also seem to be pretty friendly with her. So why haven you killed her yet?" You say, outwardly calm.

"She hasn't tried to hurt me yet, or manipulate me at all. I don't see the point in killing her. It'd be a useless death." She says

Well now you know she won't do anything stupid out of fear.

"Know anything about the others?" You ask.

"Only that their eyes are very sensitive to the light, and the third one seems to be living with Cassidy." She says.

"Hm, I'll have to look into them." You say and begin walking away from her.

"Don't worry Dirk, I'll keep an eye on them for you." She calls after you.

Fuck. At least she doesn't know much about the trolls.

A snake comes up and stops right in front of you. Oh yeah. It's that trained snake they gave you for some reason. Sometimes, it seems like it's sentient. Who was it that trained this one? Tavros? He's one of the better trainers, so this snake shouldn't do anything too stupid. After it ran off not too long ago you were considering telling Tavy-boy that it was dead. But it's back. You wonder where it went. You start walking again and it follows you. Then it starts off in a different direction and looks back like it expects you to follow. You follow it.

It heads to Fedora's cabin. Does he want you? Fuck, has he found out already? It goes around the side and to the back of the house. Then it stops and looks at you again. You guess you're supposed to stay here. Creepy sentient animals. You stay at the back corner of the building while it slithers forward. You sneak a look around the corner and see Jane. It took you to Jane. Why? Is there something about her you're missing? She's just sitting there with that headband of hers on. It's pretty ugly, you wonder why she wears it. She's sitting there staring into space like it's the most important thing she can do. The snake comes up behind her and it gestures to the headband. As well as a snake can gesture. Then it tries to take it off her. Once it touches the headband Jane spins around and grabs the snake tight.

"Oh. It's just a mindless snake." She says sounding surprisingly like an angry Vriska. You've... never heard her sound like that. She squeezes it like she's strangling it then throws it into the grass, where it comes back to you. If snakes could limp, you're sure this one would be.

Okay. You're keeping an eye on her. You walk out right out of there, and let the snake ride on you out of pity for the thing. You aimlessly walk while digesting this new information.

So the Jane you've known since you've met her is kind to almost every living thing and rarely acts anything like that even when she's pissed. But now she's acting like she hates everything and wants as much death as possible. Is the kindness just a cover? If so, then who's she working for? Not FARA that's for sure. Not for Queen Bitch... probably. Should you tell the others about this? A better question would be "Would they believe the proof?", proof being: the snake lead me to it. Not likely. But you'd better ask Roxy about her in any case.

Speak of the she-devil. Your mind surfaces from your thoughts to find the elder Lalonde in sight, and beckoning you. You walk over, seemingly without changing direction, and can't help but be reminded of exactly what you're hiding from her. When you get within arms reach she drunkenly reaches out and pulls you down by your collar. Even though you know for a fact that she's completely sober.

"So. I hear that a certain _someboy _found some rebound ass." She says with her lilting voice.

"Mm. Then it took longer for him than I thought it would." You say.

"Who are you talking 'bout? I mean you. That you found some ass." She says accusingly.

"I was thinking Jake. But in that case, it's a bold faced lie." You say.

"Oh really?" She says, drawing out the word. Yeah, she doesn't believe you.

"Yes. Really. Now I need you to keep an eye on Jane." You say.

"Janey? Is something wrong with her?! Is it some incurable disease? Is Janey gonna die?!" She says, pulling you closer.

"No." You say prying her off. "In fact it's roughly the opposite of that. She's been acting pretty sketchy and I want you to keep an eye out for any abnormal behavior from her. Any at all."

"I don' know Dirky, Jane doesn't seem like she'd hurt a fly. But I trust you. So I'll keep an eye out just in case. Now, about the rumored ass." She says.

"Just a rumor. Most likely spread by someone who desperate for me to discourage others from trying. Now that I'm single again." You say.

"It started with Rosey." She says, challenging you.

"Well in that case she's just aching for some Strider. I've seen her eyeing Bro too. But it wouldn't work out. It'd be creepy to date her. And she's your sister too." You say.

"Dirk!" She huffs, drawing out your name. "Stop playing games and just tell me who it is already! I know you have someone, I can see it on your face! Come on, I won't judge. Please? Please please please please please tell me?" She says ending up hugging your knees and shaking you slightly.

"Roxy, there isn't any ass and no matter how much you beg that's not going to change. Now let go, your about to make me fall over." You say

Really, it isn't just ass. It's all of her. But there's no way in hell you're going to tell anyone that. Let alone Roxy. Or Nepeta. Fuck no, you're _never _telling Nepeta anything about this. At all. Ever.

Roxy groans but let's you go and stumbles off in search of "Someone who'll tell me the truth!" and you're left standing there. She's really good at acting drunk.

You decide to check up on the idiots, see if they're all dead yet. It would make things a lot easier for you if they were. Maybe you should indirectly kill them. No, it'd just use up even more time and energy. Oh yeah, and they're innocent or whatever it was Cassidy said. Unfortunately where they've decided to settle takes some time to get to. Time that can be used on brooding, or planning, or getting random visitors for no fucking reason at all. You don't want that last one to happen. You really don't want the random visitor to be English. You just want to walk in silence. But because it's noon-ish and those two are always frolicking somewhere in the woods at this time, you're bound to meet up with either him or Harley.

You see something white with blood red spots through the trees in the distance. Bec must've caught himself something. Creepy sentient animals.

"Dirk!" You hear to your left.

Only your years of surprise strifing with Bro kept you from getting knocked on your ass by the inevitable tackle that could only barely be called a hug. Well at least your standing and it's Jade. And Bec... without blood on him anywhere... creepy.

"Hey. 'Sup?" You say.

She let's go of you and looks like she'd start bouncing any second if she wasn't glaring at you. "I rarely get to see you and when we actually get together that's all you can say? Come on Dirk, it's been forever! What got you so tied up that you can't even spare some time for your friends?" She says to your back before catching up. Did you mention you started walking away? Well you did, and are.

"Important things. Things that'll save your ass in the long run. Also things that have to be done. Since when is six weeks "forever"?" You ask.

"Since we haven't seen each other in that long! And what important things?" She asks dropping her glare, but you can tell she's still upset.

"Things." You say.

"Are they secret things? Come on, you can tell me! I'll never tell anyone if you do." She says.

"Okay, here's a secret: Roxy has no idea what I'm doing." You say.

"You're not going to tell me what you're doing are you." She says. You shake your head. "Fine, I'll let you get away with this on two conditions: go talk to Jake, and tell somebody what you're up to that's such a big secret!" After that she just walked off. Guess that means you don't have a choice in the matter. Hmm.

You resume what you were doing before you were interrupted, which was walking. You try to clear your mind, but for you that's a near impossible task. Why did she want you to talk to Jake? Is something wrong with him? Is he jealous because of the rumors-that-aren't-quite-lies that are floating around? No. That's so unlikely it's bordering on impossible. Why the hell would he be jealous? He was the one that was avoiding you until you confronted him about it. No, it has to be something else. So, what? ... What would he think of Beth? Fuck, why are you even thinking that! You don't care what he thinks about anything. Besides, you have a completely valid reason for not seeing him since you broke up. You've been busy with important things... Okay, maybe you're not as over him as you thought. Maybe you still regret braking up with him like you did. Maybe part of you feels like an ass for falling for Beth. Maybe she is just a rebound and you're just being delusional again. Maybe you're risking every thing for someone you only think you like. Maybe this train of thought needs to stop where it is. You always end up over complicating simple things for no damned reason.

Doesn't matter any more. You're in the clearing now. Why are you here again? Right, the idiots. Why Feferi told Karkat about this place is beyond you. Right up there with sentient animals and the fact that there are both recouprecoons and beds in all the houses. You walk into the one you saw movement in.

"Anyone home, or am I just talking to an empty house?" You call into the vacant livingroom.

"Oh, we're in the bedroom! But, don't come in yet!" Cassidy calls back.

You walk over to the door you heard her in and stand by it. "Any particular reason why I can't come in?" You say.

"Well. Bethy's in here, and remember all her wounds? Well, there were more, and these are worse, and she kinda passed out, and now I'm kinda stitching her up." She says.

"Exactly how bad is it?" You ask, hoping your voice is steady.

"Well... she won't be getting up for a while. When she wakes up that is." She says.

That's... Shit. You stay outside the room, even though you know you could probably patch her up better. You just don't think you could handle seeing her like you think she is. Even imagining it hurts. You mentally shake yourself and try to push those images out of your head.

"Is Feferi in there?" You ask. Don't think about the burns.

"Oh, yeah, do you need her?" Cassidy says.

"Yeah. Both her and Karkat. Think you can spare her?" You say. Don't think about the blood.

"I'll be out in a bit. Just let me clean up first." Feferi says.

"I'll be here." You say. Don't think about the wounds. Or her body ripped open on a dissection table. Don't think about her burns. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't puke. Don't freak out. Stay calm. Don't imagine it.

You hear the door open beside you and open your eyes as Feferi comes out. You nod to her and start walking. Once you trust your voice again you ask

"So, you know where Karkat is?"

"Yup! His hive is over here." She says.

All the "hives" are arranged in a circle for some reason, and apparently Karkat took the one Directly across from Cassidy and Feferi's. When you walk in he's sitting there brooding on the couch. Or sleeping. Truthfully, for him, any action could be replaced with brooding. You sit on one side of him and Feferi sits on the other.

"Just here to make sure you havent been found and killed yet." You say in response to his glare and opening mouth.

You sit there and half tune out his yelling. Once he stops you try to converse again, and actually get somewhere with them before he starts yelling again. This process repeats until late into the night/early into the morning. The shit you put up with. Why do you put up with it? Same reason why your stomach is in knots because of an image you can't seem to forget. Same reason you're putting up with any of this bullshit. Same reason you've gotten barely any sleep this past week. You're the biggest fucking moron in existence, and she most likely doesn't care about you in the least. God how you wish you could just act without analyzing everything you do. Sometimes you really just hate how stupid you are.

Whatever, life goes on.


	10. Chapter 10

Authors Note: Here come the ships! Sorry it's late, I blame illnesses, comicon, and shitty interweb connection. I also regret that shitty last chapter. Sorry about that.

Chapter ten: of pranks, the nile, and even more spies.

Okay, something weird is going on here. Something really, really weird. Everyone is acting strange now! Well not really everyone. It's actually just Dave and Cassidy. See, Dave's been spacing out a lot and when you ask about it he just grunts or says that "You should stay outta this Egbert." but that doesn't tell you anything! And then there's Cassidy. She doesn't hang out with you nearly as much anymore and won't even let you come see her in her new house! She's also been speaking in fish puns for some reason. Come to think of it, it's like Rose is acting strange too. Well, stranger than usual. She's being even more secretive, and she just starts laughing for no reason at all! She's also been disappearing a lot too. Where's she going? It seems like your friends don't even care about you anymore! But your probably just over reacting to it. Oh, but where are your manners. You haven't even introduced yourself yet!

Your name is John Egbert and you are currently on duty. You are part of FARA, or Foreign Affairs Response Agency, even if you're still in training. Your partner Dave Strider is also in training and is patrolling the troll side of your territory while you patrol the human side. Can't let any crazy trolls get through and start killing people. In other news you are the youngest of your group of friends and just turned seventeen not too long ago. You are also completely heterosexual and have _never_ had any wet dreams about your best bro Dave. Your preferred weapon is your hammer. You have black hair and need glasses. You've been described as a derp. And... um... Your name is John Egbert and that's really all there is to know about you.

Now what were you doing? Oh right! Finding out what Cassidy is up to! You figured that since she never invites you over anymore you'd give her a surprise visit. But since you're working you can't do that right now, so you're just going to scope out the place for prime pranking spots. You brought a few buckets along just for that reason. You hope she's not home right now. It's still morning-ish so she really shouldn't be home, but if she is then you'll add it to her recent weirdness. Maybe you'll talk to Rose about all this later. Okay, it doesn't look like there's anyone in the house so the coast is clear. Now just walk casually over to the house, no pranking going on here, and open the window and then crawl in and you're in.

"Hehehe, no one can out sneak John Egbert." You say aloud. You have a bad habit of talking to yourself. But it's not like you do it when there are other people around! That would be just plain creepy.

You look around and see that you're in the livingroom. You could have just walked through the door. But you didn't because you are a super sneaky prank master and went through the window instead. You stealthily sneak over to the bedrooms and only hit something with the buckets twice. You try to open one door but find out that it's locked, so you move onto the next one. You open the other door and see that it leads to your goal, Cassidy's bedroom. Which is not creepy at all because you're pranking her.

After successfully setting up many amazing pranks you decide to go back to the door that was locked. There's probably something amazing in there! And she must have locked it to keep everyone away from it. Or maybe it's so dangerous that she's locked the door to keep it away from everyone! No that's pretty stupid. Cassidy wouldn't have something so blood thirsty in the first place. You stroll through the house one more time to make sure all your pranks are in place and accidentally spring a few you forgot about, but also to get your curiosity back under your control. By the time you come back to the locked door you have only done one of those things. You have got to know what behind that door. You go outside and to where you think the locked room is. Yes, there's a window there! Double yes, it's not locked! You go in the window, because that's what cool stealthy guys do and that's what you are: cool as winter and stealthy as... as... um, something really really stealthy!

You drop to the floor and roll on the ground only partially because you fell. You get up and take stock of the room only to find that you can't see anything. It's so dark in here. Wait, is it because there's a killer creature in here that'll wake up if it sees light? No, you already said that Cassidy wouldn't keep something like that. You open the curtains, but only a little bit just in case. Curtains. Dresser. Recouprecoon. Vanity. Doesn't look all that interesting. Really it just looks like-wait _recouprecoon?_ You look at it again just to make sure that you aren't seeing things or dreaming. You touch it. You look inside it. Shit there's a troll in there!

You get out of there as fast as you can and you swear you were flying out the window. _Shit shit shit shit shit!_ Okay, you have to calm down. Dave. He'll know what to do! Dave, Dave, gotta find Dave. You run around crazy-like for a bit before you realize that Dave's on the other side right now. You head there and fail to spot a certain cerulean troll sneaking around. You continue cussing in your mind because this is a big deal! Cassidy has a troll living in the same house as her! Wait... Holy shit Cassidy is willingly living with a troll! Gotta find Dave, gotta find Dave, gotta gotta gotta gotta, shit! You trip on a tree root you didn't see. Well hey, it's not _your_ fault that the troll world is so dark all the time! Now back to finding your best bro, except more carefully this time. You check out every place you think he could be but he's just not there! You start aimlessly searching for him until you hear someone grunt near by.

You walk in the direction the noise came from to see if anyone needs help. It's Dave! But he's pinned against a tree with some type of blue and red stuff around him! Then that Sollux troll walks up to him and gives a sadistic grin. Your friend is in danger, and you will help him! You're about to charge at him with your fists swinging, because you forgot your hammer. You stop and stare at them once they start... kissing? Yeah, they're kissing alright. You think you saw some tongue in there. You duck down behind the small wall of plant life and hope that they didn't see you. God your face feels like it's on fire... out of embarrassment! Okay you are getting out of there _right now!_

You sprint back to the side your supposed to be on and try to forget what you saw. You slump against a tree once you're too tired to continue. Okay, so, Dave's gay. And was just making out with Sollux. A troll. Dave was making out with a troll. We're not supposed to do that. It's one of the set-in-stone punishable-by-death type rules. And Dave broke it. And you saw him. You could turn him in. You _should_ turn him in. He broke one of the biggest rules there are, he went against everything you two've worked for, he broke your hea- No! You are **not** gay! And you are **not** crushing on your best bro! There is absolutely no way that's true. The pain in your chest must be something else. And you're crying because he betrayed FARA and by extension you. You should turn him. What he's done is wrong! You should turn him in... but you know you won't. You don't think you could live with yourself if you did that.

Some time later, whether it's been minutes or hours you can't tell, all the tears are gone and you just feel numb. You stand. You should get back to patrolling. Make sure that no trolls are here. You hope you don't see Dave for the rest of the day. You don't know what would happen but you know it would hurt. He betrayed you... and all his other teammates, and the entire organization! You don't even remember why you wanted to see him in the first place. To tell him something? To warn him? Doesn't matter anymore. It'll probably just fix itself. You find a troll on your side. It's that one... Vriska, that's it. She sees you. She's not attacking, so she must know at least something about humans.

"Excuse me ma'am, I suggest you go back home now. Before something bad happens." you say.

"Woah hostile, much? I just came for a visit, blue boy." she says. Gosh she's rude.

"Doesn't matter you still need to go." you say, all business.

"Why? What happened? Does mr. Butthurt need a bandage?" She says with a wink.

"It's my job. I'm one of the ones that keep our worlds separate. And keep you alive." You say.

"Well too bad. I'm not leaving. Unless you want to tell me what's on your mind...?" She asks. Why does she want to know? She must be a meddler.

"So you're saying that if I tell you what I'm thinking you'll leave without a fight?" You say. Well you've had worse jobs.

"Why yes, I am." She says. A meddling meddler.

"Who am I to turn down an easy job? Alright, right now I'm upset because my long-time partner just pretty much turned his back on everything we were working for and endangering us all. And now you leave." You say. Yeah that's it. Not because he left a gaping hole in your chest. But it's that other thing, because you really aren't gay.

"Hahahahahahahaha! Oh, how hilarious! There were eight laughs, by the way. Just for you and your misfortune! Fine. I'll leave. Bye Mr. Butthurt." She says and walks away, still laughing at you.

"The name's John Egbert!" You yell after her. She's so mean! ... But then again, you do feel a tiny bit better for telling her. Isn't she the telepathic one you were warned about? Maybe she knew and was trying to help you, in her own weird way. Okay, you guess she's not that bad. If what you think is true. You should go talk to Rose about... everything. Yeah that'll help.

You follow her to the portal just to make sure she did go back. Once she's gone you go back to patrolling and nothing much happens. You walk. You hide. You investigate noises. You pretty much dink around and try not to think about Dave for a while. Then it's sundown. About the time the two of you are supposed to switch with Dirk and Roxy and go dink around like normal kids do. But that means you'll have to see Dave. You don't think you can face him quite yet. So you stay out for... a while. After sundown you're still out wandering, when you hear a noise. Your night vision isn't very good so you go slowly until you barely see something in the shadows. Another troll. This one's smaller than Vriska. He's about at tall as you. He notices you and immediately scowls. You should have brought your hammer.

"Excuse me, what are you doing out here?" You ask as non-aggressively as you can.

"I could ask you the same, wriggler. But since you asked I might as well tell you. I'm fucking living here you ass-flipping meat head." He says. Wow, his voice sounds bad. Like he's been doing a lot of yelling lately and now his voice is all messed up.

"Wait, you live here?" You ask. You didn't think that this was even allowed.

"Yes. Some human nook-licker put my life on the line back where shit actually makes sense and now it's either live in the backward world said nook-licker brought me to or die. So far I am seriously considering death at the hands of my moirail. Which is exactly what I'll get if I try to go back there!" He says.

"Wow. That's really sad. Well I guess since you're living here already I can't just kick you off to your death. Just, uh, try not to let anyone see you, or else I will have to kick you out." You say. Poor guy, it sounds like he's been through a lot.

"Fuck no. You are not pitying me. I am not being pitied by a fucking human." He says, almost spitting his words at you. Why is he so upset about it? It's not like you're doing anything wrong. Isn't pity like a really good thing to trolls? ... Oh shit!

"No no no no no! Not like that! I just don't want to cause you any extra stress is all." You say.

"Right." He says and he just doesn't believe you. "Now what the fuck do you mean kick me out? You don't look like you could rule a pile of dirt so how the hell can you rule a world?" Why does he keep insulting you?

"I don't rule this world. I'm just part of an organization that keeps our two worlds inhabitants separate so Her Condesce doesn't try to conquer our world and kill us all. Well, we're supposed to but _some people_ prefer to suck troll face rather than do our job." You say with your voice getting bitter at the end.

"Red or black?" He says.

"What...?" You say. Aren't those part of their weird romance system or something? Why would he be asking about that?

"Look, I am the master of the quadrants, and it couldn't be more obvious that you have a crush on who ever you were talking about if you had scribbled it all over your fucking face. So is your relationship with them red or black? Unless you're a moron and don't want amazing advice from me." He says.

"I... Yeah I could use some advice. I'm not to sure about your romance system. But I think it's red. See, I've felt like this for a really long time now but never told anyone. And now, well, there's someone else. That's pretty much all there is to it." You say.

You already decided to tell someone, and he wanted to know. Also it's not like he's going to tell anyone you know. Right? Right. And... okay, maybe you are the tiniest bit gay. But only a little! You obviously aren't going to fall for any other guys. It was only Dave, and Dave alone. No one else! He'll be the only _guy_ you ever fall for.

"Well that sucks almost as much as my shitty situation does. Who ever the fuck this person is they sound like a massive nook-chaffing shit-bag not to have noticed this kind of shit. Unless they did notice. If that's the case then they get the title bulge-whiffing bucket-licker instead. In any case this person doesn't seem fit to have wriggler piss as a matesprit. So get over them and move on or you're going to end up pissing off all your other friends. Assuming you have any that is." He says. You end up giggling at the weird names he calls Dave and even if he did insult you at least he wasn't insensitive about it.

"Thanks, I needed to hear that. Anyway, I hope living here isn't actually as horrible as you make it seem and that things get better for you! Oh wait, I don't even know your name! I'm John Egbert, it's a pleasure to meet you." You say and stick your hand out for him to shake. Wait, do trolls shake hands?

"... Karkat Vantas." He says shaking it. You guess they do. Hey you were right!

"I hope we meet again Karkat!" You say and walk off.

You don't think you'll be seeing anymore trolls tonight. But that's okay! It gives you time to think about your new friend! Karkat, he's mean but he means well. He's not like Vriska, who's mean and leaves you wondering about her motives. And he's strong! Like, emotionally. It sounds like he's been through a lot, but he's still trying. And he has piano hands. You wonder if he knows how to play. Probably not, the few times you've actually looked at their world you noticed a disturbing lack of musical instruments. Maybe you can teach him! Yeah that's a great idea, you'll get to spend more time with a new friend and teach him something new! Maybe he can teach you some new things too! You wonder when you'll see him next. He said he lived here. But where exactly is "here"? The only place that you think no one would notice a new person is in that circle of houses you saw before. The same one you saw that other troll in. Maybe they're living here too! You suppose you were a bit hasty in thinking they were dangerous. Hey if Karkat lives there then maybe you can go visit him!

When you get back to the village the moons already gone down. You decide that you can postpone your talk with Rose until tomorrow. After all, even someone like Rose needs her sleep. As you fall asleep, you realize that you aren't afraid to face Dave anymore. As you wake up, you realize you were dreaming about Karkat and Vriska. You realize that you really, _really_ need to talk to Rose today.

Why is everything so dramatic lately?


	11. Chapter 11

Authors note: I know it ain't cannon, but please note that they are the _dancestors_ not the _ancestors_. Also, yes she is OOC but it's the weekend and I have ceased giving a damn.

Chapter eleven: of cats, ideas, and memory lapses.

You can't believe you let this happen! Not only did you kidnap a human _and_ let Beth slip through your claws but it was you who convinced Aradia to go through with it! You thought that you'd surpurrise the senior agents when you caught her so you didn't tell them and now they're mad at you! So fur some reason Kanaya sent you to keep an eye on her. What really surpurrised you though was that Sollux and the Striders looked like they were helping her!

Your name is Nepeta Leijon and you are watching Beth. She seems to be living in the Human world along with a human and two trolls. It also seems that Dirk is allowing her to stay for some reason. But that would mean going against Fedora. Why would he do something so risky? It doesn't seem like John or Roxy know about her though. Why isn't he even telling his moirail about her? Something weird is going on but you don't know what it is. Then there's that adult indegoblood that you've seen creeping around. You are Nepeta Leijon, and this has to be the most confused you've ever been.

You are currently hiding in some bushes near the humans village and Beths house. You don't see why you shouldn't kill her. You could, easily. She's injured and not even leaving her hive tonight. You could just sneak in and end her with one swipe! So why is she having you watch her? But, that's why she's in charge and not you, you suppose. She must have a reason. So you sit and watch. You see that one human who turned down an invitation to FARA. What was her name? Um... er... Tulip? No. Daisy? Nope. It was some type of human flower. Erm... Rose? Yeah it was Rose! She's walking to Beths little hive. You wonder what she's doing. You watch her enter, then a little while later you watch her leave. Well she knows about Beth. So why doesn't she tell anyone else? Rose has always been a bit differen though.

You watch. And watch. And watch. You figure out just how boring watching is fur the better part of the night. Then you see a small animal and spring after it. You crouch and wait fur it to stop moving, your tail twitching as you watch. There's a noise and the little beast scampers off and you pout a little at the empty space. You sigh and crawl back to your hiding place. It would have been fun to play with the small creature. It's so /boring/ doing nothing but watching nothing! Maybe this is your punishment. To be completely bored fur the rest of the week. It doesn't seem like she'll be coming out of there any time soon though. You decide that you can spare some time to take a look at the others. Spurrsifically those two trolls.

You head over to their little hive cluster. You get distracted a few times and it ends up taking a lot longer than you thought it would. When you finally reach the hives you realize that you don't know which ones they live in. You decide to go into each one to find out. In the first one you go into, there are a lot of yellow colored things. But there are no signs of recent life, so you prowl on to the next one. The next one is... very grey. But there are signs of life, so someone has to be living here! Who could it be? Most trolls decorate with things that match their blood color, so this one must want to keep it secret. Karkitty? But why would he be siding with /them/? Now he's sure to be killed. Siding with them is purractically a death sentence! You sniff around just to be sure. Yeah, that's Karkitty alright. You guess this means you two are enemies now. Sure you two are over now, but that doesn't mean you want to hurt him! You hear footsteps and decide you've spent enough time here. You abscond and go to a hive you picked at random. This one is green and fancy, but the only life here is you. So you leave and head to the one next to it.

This one is... weird. It shows signs of life, but it's almost double what Karkittys showed. So either this one's been living here twice as long or someone else is living here. You're sure that both the trolls came here at the same time, so it must be the other one. But Karkitty's living in a different house, so who'd be living here? You sneak around and try to figure it out. You enter a room and freeze when you hear breathing. You turn and see that human you kidnapped sleeping on a bed. She tries to open her eyes and you decide to abscond into the room across the hall. In there you see a recouprecoon but no troll and a lot of... oh no. Princess Feferi lives here?! This is bad. You escape the house and run back to the passage so you can tell Kanaya and Gamzee about this. You think about how Princess Feferi is living with a human and how every hive you went to had human things it them. You think about how you're going to tell the others about this. You wonder if they already know about it.

You stop right in front of the passage. What were you thinking? You can't go back yet, you need to go to Beth! You must have spaced out or something, you can't remember why you even wanted to go back. Actually, you can't remember anything that happened since when you left the hive cluster. You giggle at yourself and head back to where you're supposed to be right now. You really must have been out of it. You see someone with white hair walking around not too far away, but something tells you that you really need to be at Beths /right now/ so you just shake your head and start running. You manage to get there just in time to see Beths door open. She pops her head out and looks around. Apparently satisfied with what she sees, she walks outside. She looks like she should be in pain. There are bandages covering a lot of her skin and she's walking very slowly and carefully with a pretty big um... Snake! Yeah, a snake following her. You follow behind her too for a while and think about all she must have been through. She somehow finds out that all her friends want to kill her. Then she has to abandon everything she's ever known so she can escape her old friends. Then when she makes a new one you kidnap her and make Beth risk everything to get her back. Now you feel like a huge jerk. Maybe if you just talked to her about it then you two could come up with a better way to keep her a secret than having to kill her. Actually, that's a pretty good idea! You mentally pat yourself on the back for coming up with such a good idea. You catch up to Beth and bounce around to her front. You're about to tell her your idea but she got one of her swords on your throat and the other just over your heart and she's glaring at you like you just killed her matesprit. Okay, maybe this wasn't the best idea after all. You put your hands out to your sides and work your glove/claws off until they hit the ground.

"Nepeta. Tell me why I shouldn't gut you alive this instant and send your remains to Aradia." She says. Okay, she's not kidding around.

"I just came to talk! Do you know why we're hunting you?" You say and put your hands above your head.

"I was told it was to make sure Her Condesce doesn't find out about me and decide to conquer the humans world. Although I have no idea how she'd see me as anything more than a mutant." She says.

"Well, that's because it's happened before. It's the same reason humans and trolls aren't allowed to mate anymore. Her Condesce saw the large population of Omegas and saw how similar they looked to each other. Something like that isn't just a coincidence of mutation. It can't be. So she looked further into it and saw adult trolls raising them instead of lusi. She kept digging and found the humans and this world. There was a horrible war and many died. Then she just stopped. It was like lost interest in it. At least that's what we were told. It happened long before any of this generation was alive. No one wants a relapse, so we killed the rest of the Omegas and made it so there wouldn't be any more. Well, we thought we did but you're here. We don't want Her Condesce to change her mind if she sees you. So we were told to kill you." You say, naturally rolling your r's.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." She interrupts you. "You're telling me that your higher ups had not a single idea that was better than "Just kill 'em and be done with it"? True it's the kind of idea I'd come up with, but I thought your little group was supposed to /protect/ sentient creatures." She pauses to sigh. She looks angry. "If Her Condesce has either no idea that this place exists or no intention to come back, then why not just hide all the Omegas here? We can either be gradually accepted into human society or we can remain hidden until whenever. Why not that instead?" She says and pulls her swords away, but only a little bit.

"I have no idea. Yours sounds like a really good idea to me. But I'm just an appurrentice, so I don't get to make many impurrtant decisions. But I can suggest it to our boss! If you can just put your swords down I'll go do that right meow!" You say.

She looks at you like she thinks you're an idiot. Then like she's thinking hard about something. Then like she thinks that she's an idiot. Then she slowly lowers her swords, but doesn't put them away. She doesn't trust you. You can't really blame her. Just think about all the things your group has done to her! She was raised with trolls, that purrobably has something to do with it too. You bend over and pick up your claws, but don't put them back on. You thank her and leave to go tell your boss her idea.

You've always kind of wondered about the head of FARA. Who would willingly let themselves be called "Fedora"? Isn't that a type of hat? Who would want to be a hat? He's usually asleep at this time of night though. You find out deeply he sleeps when you knock on his window to try and wake him up. It looks like you won't be able to tell him directly. You'll just tell one of the human agents and then when he wakes up they'll tell him. But who to tell? Only a senior human agent would be awake right now. You guess you'll just wander around until you run into one of them. So that's what you do! You wander and chase things and climb trees like Terezi showed you. The first human agent you find is Roxy! You're glad it's Roxy, Dirk tends to scare you. Besides, you and Roxy are great friends!

"Roxy!" You shout and pounce on her back.

"Nepeta! Whachu doin' here girly?" She says as she hugs you.

"Roxy, I have serious new for you to tell to Fedora when he wakes up!" You say and let go of her.

"I'm listening." She says.

"Well, how do I put this… We don't have to hunt the Omegas anymore!" You say.

"It sure is a nice idea, but how do you plan on making it happen? It's not like we're just all of the sudden be friends with them or something." She says.

"Actually it's Beth's idea not mine. She said that since Her Condesce apparently forgot about the human world then she can hide here and we won't have to kill her. As long as she doesn't do something that would make us want to kill her. But that's a pretty obvious rule, and I don't think she would do anything that would put her life in any unnecessary danger. So we should be fine on that front." You say.

"… That's… Actually a really good idea. Why didn't we come up with that?" She asks.

You shrug. "Maybe it's because we're all too used to taking orders to think of any of our own." You say.

"Well I'll make sure to tell him about it! Was there anything else you came for?" She says.

"No I don't think so. But do you know how Beth got injured like that?" You ask.

"What are you talking about? The last time I saw her was back when she first slipped out from under us and just disappeared." She says.

"But Beth's living here already! I don't know how but she's been hiding here. Kanaya told me about it. So I decided that I should do something about it and convinced Aradia to kidnap a human that she seemed attached to so that Beth would come to us and we could finally catch her! But it didn't go like I thought it would so now I think I'm being punished by having to watch her. But that got really boring and I… What exactly were we talking about?" You ask. You go on tangents sometimes. It gets annoying and you can never remember what you were doing before that.

"So wait, are you saying that she's been living here ever since she first slipped away from us? But how the hell did she find out about this place?" She asks.

"It wouldn't be the first time someone stumbled upon one of the passages." You say

"I'll have to have a talk with Dirk about this. Thanks for the news Nepeta, but I have and interrogation that won't start itself I need to get to. Later!" She says and starts walking off.

You hope she's not too hard on Dirk, you don't even know what he did. You decide that you should head back to Kanaya and Gamzee and tell them the news. Oh Gamzee will be so happy to know that we won't have to kill her! You know she means a lot to him even if you don't really know why. You stop in front of the passage. This feels really familiar. You shrug it off and go find the others. It's almost be time for the switch, so you should be able to find them all in one place. You prowl around the cluster of tiny one-room hives for a bit until the rest of them show up.

"Gamzee! Guess what! I have great news!" You say.

"Now calm down there kitty gal, where've you even been all night? We couldn't find you anywhere we looked." He said.

"Didn't Kanaya tell you?" You ask.

"Tell them what dear?" She says.

"That you told me to go keep an eye on Beth at her hive. Don't you remember? It was a little while after I told you guys about how my plan to get Beth here turned out. You came up to me and said that I should go keep an eye on her but not to hurt her, then you told me where she was." You say.

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid that I cannot recall that. The only thing I remember happening shortly after what you described was going back to work as usual. I suppose it's possible that I'd forgotten, but then I don't know where Bethany resides so there is no way I could have told you. Are you sure it was me that told you Nepeta?" She says.

"Yes! I'm sure that it was you! There is absolutely no way that it wasn't you. But that's not what's important that I need to tell you. Gamzee we won't have to hunt Beth anymore!" You say.

750 "Really? How'd you manage that?" Aradia says

You tell the story of what happened. By the end of it everyone looks really confused for some reason, but they also look hopeful! Sure, some parts didn't quite make sense. But you told it exactly how you remember it.

"If he says yes, then he might also let interspecies romances form without punishment." Kanaya says.

"This also means we won't have to try to kill any Omegas anymore! Maybe even let the humans know of our existence if they can successfully integrate her into their society. As long as Her Condesce doesn't find out we'll be fine!" Aradia says

You smile. You're glad you talked to Beth and then told Roxy to tell Fedora her idea. If it wasn't for that then none of this would have happened. But then you don't actually know what he'll say. You hope he says yes. You think he'll see the logic in her idea. He's a very sensible man after all. But what it all comes down to is that you really just don't know.

You're all happy before Kanaya says something about it not being final and we all still have work to do. Your shift is over, so you head over to your little hive.

You can't wait for morning to come.


	12. Chapter 12

Authors note: Okay, four important things and one unimportant thing. One: Shits gonna go down hard soon so the schedule will be fucked to heaven and back. Don't expect regular updates for a while. Two: I now have a account and I am diminishedDiscordian. Don't like it? Get over it. Three: Call me crazy because that's what I am for taking on two more stories when this one is still in the works. One will be on my account, where I hope to move the others one day. And the other one is Legend of Link: Heroine of Time. Op3ratic's schedule is too busy to write anymore of it so I'm taking over. I literally have nothing else to do hobby-wise. I have no life. Four: This is the end of the first arc, yes the first. There will be more and loose ends will be tied up. But there will be a break between this and the next arc. Hopefully this'll cancel out number one. Unimportant thing: I'd love to hear any and all feed back on this. Speculations, confusing things, straight up ranting, anythings welcome. Who knows you might just give me an idea. Oh yeah, and if you could shamelessly promote this that'd be great. God this got long fast. Whatever, new chapter!

Chapter twelve: of dogs, visits, and foreshadowing.

You were wondering when he'd come out with it. It's been a while since she came, and he's known the entire time. Well you have too, but that doesn't mean anything. Unfortunately not everyone was as adaptable as you. Rose was, so were Dave and Roxy. But you think they knew too. John and Jake took the worst of it. But Jane tries even though she's not quite used to it yet. She's a nice girl.

Your name is Jade Harley. Right now you're not really doing much. Just playing with Bec. But things have been happening. Big things. For one: Dad told everyone that Beth and the others will be living near our village. Then he had to explain everything to everyone. Some things were news to you. Like Feferi being royalty, and that Dirk and Dave aren't actually brothers. You never saw that one coming. But most things you dreamed about a while ago. You hope Jake's taking everything well and not planning on doing something stupid. He's usually really good about accepting changes, but now everything he knows is changing. That and the fact that Bethany isn't exactly the best person for Jake to meet. You are Jade Harley and you hope nothing too bad happens.

You hear footsteps and look up to see John quickly walking towards you with Dave trailing behind. Dave! You're glad he's taking this well, he's been a lot happier than usual lately.

"Jade you need to help me." John says and sits on the ground next to you.

"Is this about Karkat?" You ask.

"What? No. Wait, how do you know about Karkat?" He asks.

"Oh it's still too early. Forget I said anything. Now you needed my help with something?" You say.

"Yeah. Sure. But it's about... Everything! Dad telling us to kill all Omegas that we see and showing us how bad they are to us and our survival. Then he just turns around and says that they're fine as long as we're neighbors with them! Please tell me this is just some horrible prank!" He says and grabs your arm.

"I'm guessing you've already talked to the others about this." You say.

"Yeah, but they all gave me the same advice!" He says.

"Hey, my advice was perfect." Dave says walking up behind John.

"You told me to "Get over it." how is that good advice?!" John says.

"It's amazing advice. Straight from the mouth of your local God, Dave Strider." Dave says.

"John, Dave's right. But blunt. Really there's no way for you to go against this without being seen as a huge ass. Sure it was unexpected, but don't you think you can adapt like the rest of us? Look at Dave, he's probably had the same problems you are since he's in your group too. You just have to accept it John. Let go of the past." You say.

John sighs. "That's pretty much what Rose told me to do. Alright. I'll try to get over it. Thank anyway Jade." He says with a sad smile. He gets up and starts walking away.

"I'd better go make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Dave says.

You stand and stop him. "I think it'd be better if we just let him be for now." You say. You have absolutely no ulterior motives for stopping him. "Now, you seem way too happy for me to not meddle a bit. So spill!" Nope. No other motives at all.

"Well aren't you gossipy today. But no. There's no happy, and there's no reason for the nonexistent happy." He says.

"You can't fool me Dave. I can see it on your face. You're practically bursting with joy!" You say.

He pauses. "This is part of your freaky 'knowing shit before it happens' shtick, isn't it."

"No. Okay maybe a little." You say.

"Damn. Guess I really can't hide any shit from you. I'll give you the condensed version. I have my eye on someone, and they cannot escape the Strider charm. You could call it me prematurely celebrating a victory." He says.

You gasp. Dave has a crush on someone! You hope against hope that it's you. You throw your arms around him. "Who is it?! Tell me tell me tell me!" You say.

"Whoa there Harley, I ain't no gossip queen. You're just going to have to wait in silence like every one else until I make the announcement." He says gently pushing you off.

"Aw man! Alright. So how're they settling in?" You ask.

"I've been too busy keeping everyone and their brother from flipping their shit about it to check up on them. Since you're oh so curious, why not go stalk them yourself?" He says and starts walking away.

You stick out your tongue at his retreating form. Although that is a pretty good idea. Except for the stalking part. You should go check up on them. After all if the majority is taking it this badly then how would the minority be?! You head over to their houses in the forest. Beth is living there too now so she'll be easy to find. You wonder what they'll be like. You hope they're not too mean. But from what little you saw of them in your dreams, you think everything will turn out fine! With a little help from Bec you appear out side of their cluster of houses and walk towards the closest one.

"Hi Jade!" You hear someone call. You turn to see Cassidy waving at you from one of the porches.

"Oh, hi Cassidy. What are you doing out here?" You ask walking over to her.

"This is where I've been living ever since my house burned down. I've got a cool housemate too!" She says.

"How did that even happen?" You ask

"I don't know. I don't even know why I didn't wake up. Usually I'm a really light sleeper." She says.

"You were probably just really tired. I know I can get like that when big things are happening." You say and sit down next to her.

"True. Any reason you're here?" She says.

"Oh right! I came here to make sure that everyone was adjusting well. Do you know where I could find any of them? I'm not sure which houses are occupied and I don't want to just barge into an empty house and start talking to myself." You say.

She shakes her head. "Sorry Jade but they're all asleep right now. Their world is darker than ours so if they come out during the day they'll go blind. They decided to go nocturnal instead of being cooped up all day. Maybe if you come back during the night you can talk to them. Although Karkat can get really angry easily and Bethy isn't very friendly either. Feferi is nice though. If you want to risk it, they're all really nice once you get to know them." She says.

"Good to know. So which one are you living with?" You ask.

"I'm living with Feferi. But I get the feeling that more trolls will be moving into the empty houses." She says.

"Really? Why do you think that?" You ask.

"Just a feeling." She answers with a shrug.

You stand to leave. "Thanks for the information Cassidy, I'll try to come back tonight to see them." And walk away with a wave.

So they're nocturnal. You suppose that makes sense. You won't be able to see them at all during the day though. You wonder just how dark their world is if they can go blind just from looking at the sun. Must be pretty freaking dark. Sure the sun is bright and if you look into it for a really long time you'll get eye damage, but going blind from just being out here? That's just plain intense. You barely hear someone talking and focus on that instead. It's coming from up a head to the right. You start that way and wonder who it could be. It sounds like a guy and they're using a lot of complicated sounding words. Doesn't sound like any of your friends. Maybe it's one of the trolls! But didn't Cassidy say trolls would be blind if they went out during the day? Your search leads you to a cave. Oh. That solves that problem. The voice is louder now, you can hear it easily from the mouth of the cave even though he's farther in.

"So as you can clearly see, it's not only wise but necessary for you to do this." He says.

"I'm... I'm still not sure about it." Another voice says. It kind of sounds like Jake.

"I would give you another lecture on why you should join us, but your time is unfortunately running short. You must leave here soon. Be sure to contemplate what I have told you. If you still have doubts in three days time come back here and I shall do my best to fares these doubts." The first voice says.

The sounds of footsteps can be heard now. Someones coming out of the cave! Should you hide? You take a look around. Shoot no good hiding places. You'll just have to act like... Something!

"Jade? What the dickens are you doing in this part of the forest? Don't you know of the many predators that lurk in this area?" Jake asks coming out of the cave.

"Hi Jake! I was going to visit the trolls to see bow they were adjusting but it turns out that they're nocturnal so I'll have to wait until nightfall to see them. Then I heard a voice from over here and followed it. Like you said there are predators in this part of the woods and I thought that whoever was here might not know about them. I came to warn them or protect them. But what are you doing here? And who were you talking too?" You ask.

"Oh just some chap I met. No one very important. I was out here hoping to clear my head about this whole dilemma and must have wandered off the beaten path in a fit of lost focus. When I observed my surroundings I found that my feet had lead me to the entrance of this cave. Come now, it wouldn't be very wise of us to dwell in such a dangerous place for any longer than need be." He says and starts walking away.

You follow behind him and observe him. Usually he's always in a good mood, but now he just looks troubled. More so than when you saw him this morning. The slump in his shoulders has gotten worse and with his slouching he looks almost exactly the opposite of his usual proud stance. Does this thing with the trolls really have him so worked up? Or was it what that guy in the cave was telling him?

"Jake what's wrong? Is it the trolls?" You ask.

"No. Maybe. I'm not so sure any longer. I'm still rather anxious about meeting them and living side by side with a people known to be violent. I myself love a good round of fisticuffs, but I wonder just how far they would be willing to take it. And just shortly before this some troll bloke tells me that I should be hating them. The fellow made an admirable case for it but I've never even met them! Forgive me for saying this Miss Harley, but something about all of this just... Feels wrong. It's not supposed to be happening. Not just the trolls living here but interfering with their plans and world at all doesn't seem right. It's like there's some... Heh, listen to me ramble on with my flights of fancy. Although I'm touched by your concern, everything will turn out to be dandy Jade. Just you wait and see." He says.

You smile. Same old Jake. No matter what he's always the optimist. You're glad that he's not taking this as hard as you though. But that part about the guy in the cave worries you a bit. Jakes always been more gullible than most people, you hope that it doesn't get him into serious trouble this time around. You two share a companionable silence during the rest of your trip back to the village and go your separate ways when you reach the edge. Him to hash things out with Jane probably. You to go talk to Rose. If anyone in the village would know how the trolls are fairing it would be her. You catch her at her house reading one of her books.

"Hey Rose. Know anything on how the trolls are doing? You know, how they're adjusting to life with humans?" You ask.

"It seems rather early to start asking that to me. After all, Mr. Egbert only announced it yesterday morning. I would wait at least a week before asking. But I suppose you knew they were here before it was announced." She says closing her book on her finger to keep her place and looking up at you.

"Yep! I knew they were here a while ago. I guess what I mean to ask is: do you think they'll cause any trouble for us?" You ask.

"I don't think so. This is the only place they would be welcome from what I've heard. Even the most violent trolls would hold their temper if that were the case. No, there's nothing to worry about on that front." She says.

"That's good. I'd hate for anyone to get into a fight because of someones temper." You say.

"Don't underestimate a humans capacity to be thickheaded Jade. There's more than one person in our village alone that would like to see them dead." She says.

"But no ones met them yet! How cam you hate someone you've never even seen?" You say.

"It is a rather absurd thing to do. But that's how some people are." She says.

You think back to what Jake said. "Rose, do you think that Jake is one of those people?" You ask.

"No I should think not. While he does infuriate me at times, he tends to accept everyone no matter their perceived flaws. Why do you ask?" She says.

"Just something he told me about." You say.

The two of you talk for a bit longer before you leave. For the rest of the day, time seems like it's purposely dragging it's feet. By the time night falls you're already on your way to their houses. You're just so excited to meet new people! It's not like you get to every day. You see a male troll while you're walking. But he's talking with John so you don't stop to talk to him. You cam meet him later. There's still another troll and Beth for you to meet anyway. You also see what looks like someone in a dress, but they're in the shadows so you can't quite tell. They're talking to somebody too. Somebody that looks a lot like Dirk. You make a mental note to ask him about that later. You don't have any string though, so you'll try to remember and keep walking. When you get there you see three figures. Once Cassidy and you assume the others are who you're here to meet.

"Hi Cassidy!" You say almost bouncing up to her.

"Hi Jade. This is Feferi and Bethany. Gals this is a friend of mine, Jade." She says.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Jade!" Feferi says.

"Aye." Is all that Bethany says. She looks angry. Or annoyed. Or both.

"I would introduce you to Karkat but I don't know where he is right now." Cassidy says.

"It's fine, I'm sure I'll run into him sooner or later." You say to her. Then to the others you say "I hope you two are liking the human world so far."

"It's wonderful! There's so much more untamed land here and there's lobsta more diversity in the wildlife. Or maybe that's because we have different kinds back home." Feferi says.

"It does have a sort of care free charm about it. Truth be told the atmosphere back there was way too oppressive. No offense Princess." Beth says.

"None taken. When I become Condesce that'll be shore to change." Feferi says.

"Whats a condesce?" You ask.

Both Feferi and Beth give You surprised looks. Beth recovers first, though, and starts speaking. "Her Condesce is the ruler of the troll world."

"Oh, so since Feferi's a Princess does that make her Her Condesces daughter?" You ask.

Beth shakes her head. "No. You should understand that trolls don't have relatives like humans do. No one bothers to keep track of their blood line. Some say that you could be killed for doing so. The only relation between Her Condesce and Princess Feferi is that they are both Tyrianbloods. As such, when their shared luses deems that the time has come the Princess and Her Condesce will do battle for the throne. If Princess Feferi dies then Her Condesce will keep the throne until the next Tyranbloods is hatched." She says.

"Wait, the succession of the throne is done with a fight to the death?!" You say.

"Yes. How does your culture do it?" Feferi asks.

"For us when our current ruler dies the first borne son takes the throne." You say.

"Ours would probably go like that too, except for the fact that Her Condesce has been alive for millennia and still looks to be in her prime." Beth says.

"Oh. Now the killing thing makes a lot more sense." You say.

Feferi asks you to give her a tour of your village, bit you decline saying that since your not nocturnal even doing this is going past your usual sleeping schedule. You tell them all goodnight and make your way back.

You're glad that Dad chose to include them and bot kill them. They're nice, or at least interesting and polite in Beths case. Besides, unnecessary killing is wrong. If they cause a ruckus on the other hand, you might have to do something about them. Then there's what Rose said about people not liking them. You'll have to keep an eye on them too. If one of them was to hurt your new friends then that will probably make one of your new friends hurt them! Then there'd be a huge fight, and trolls don't usually stop until they're dead. Then there's Jake and that guy in the cave. It seems like this situation is going to go south no matter what you do. Doesn't mean you aren't going to try though! Maybe you could get Janes help on the matter. Maybe Dave's group could help too. It's kind of their job anyway. You've got this. You've so got this. You go to bed with a feeling of peace settling over you.

You've so obviously got this.


	13. Chapter 13

Authors note: Hey I'm back! I'm still not sure about the schedule but I'll try my best to upload on saturday. Also, I'm only doing one story at a time! All the others can wait. Really, with all this shit happening I've got more than enough on my plate without those two others. Whatever, new chapter!

Chapter thirteen: of suspicions, celebrations, and surprises.

Your name is Bethany Bosteder. You are a troll-human hybrid, called an Omega. It's been three months since you came to the human world. It's been about two months since the humans local leader decided to accept you and the other two into his village. It's been one month and two weeks since you started your job as a night patrol. It's been a month since John asked you for dating advice. It's been three weeks since some girl named Jane became the Miss Piexes matesprit. It's been two weeks since the band of trolls who were trying to kill you decided to live in the human world as well. Its been two weeks since you started avoiding them. It's been one week since you started getting restless. It's been three months, and you haven't seen hide nor hair of a new human being in all that time. It's been nagging at you for a while now. Sure you and the others are scary to them, but in every group there is at least one dumbass that just loves a good scare. Most of the time it's you. But not even one of those people have turned up yet. Somethings not right here. An outside influence mayhaps? You're Bethany Bosteder and, for possibly the first time in your life, you're very worried.

You round the tree and gaze upon the small village. What could it be? You keep walking when you see someone out and about. No sense in scaring random people tonight. Call it odd, but when you have a job to do you have a tendency to do it. Even of this job is just walking around and looking at stuff. Even if your mind is running in circles with possibilities. Even if you're practically asleep while doing it. Okay so you're not really _doing_ your job. You just need to keep busy. Even if it's just walking around, you have to be doing _something_! Probably just restlessness due to your afore mentioned worries, unfounded worries at that. But then you've always had a touch of paranoia.

You hear movement not too far off. You turn and see Jake walking up to you. To irritate, or to not irritate? That is the question. Unfortunately for you the decision is taken out of your hands entirely, because that Jane chick is pushing Jake towards you. You wait by the tree you're standing by, you don't want to be rude.

"Hello Bethany!" Jane says. You politely nod to her.

"Jane what, may I ask, am I doing here at this ungodly hour?" Jake says.

You roll your eyes. "Hello to you to James." You say. Once you called him the wrong name, cause your memory is horrible, and it pissed him of so it stuck.

"It's _Jake_." He says. Rather rudely in your opinion.

"Jake, you're here to keep an eye on Bethany until someone else can." Jane says.

"What?! But-" Jake stutters out.

"It was already decided Jake. No buts." She says and pushes him forward.

You sidestep and he falls into the tree trunk. "Can I ask why I need someone to watch over me?" You ask Jane.

"It's because you can't seem to do a damn thing right on your lonesome." Jake says picking himself up off the ground and onto all fours.

You nonchalantly kick him in the stomach. "I wasn't asking you now was I." You ask. More of a statement than a question though.

"You can ask. But I'm not supposed to tell you." Jane supplies, looking worriedly at Jake.

You shrug as Jake glares daggers at you. You bid her farewell, and walk off without a single thought concerning Jake. Predictably, he gets up and follows you. No words are exchanged. You both know that neither should die at the hands of the other. Well, that's how you would have liked it to play out. Unfortunately for you, Jake is an idiot.

"What the dickens was that for?!" He says grabbing your shoulder and halting your progress.

"For being an ass." You say bluntly. You don't have patience for morons.

"Well that's the pot calling the kettle black if I've ever heard it, _Ms. Bosteder._" He says.

You hang your head and chuckle. "I know I'm a foreigner, but there is so much wrong with what you just said, James." You say and jerk your shoulder away from him and start walking again.

"What the devil are you talking about?" He asks.

You sigh. Poor moron. "When you used that phrase, you were trying to say that I'm an ass and you aren't, right?" You ask rhetorically.

"Of course! What else would I be saying?" He says.

"Well James, in case you didn't know, pot and kettles are /both/ black. So instead of saying you weren't one, you only confirmed it and said that I was one as well. Also, that way you phrased it makes it seem like you have actually heard a pot talking to a kettle. Which, by the by, only enforces my belief that you're more insane than most humans." You say.

He sputters. "How dare you twist my words in such a way, you silver tongued she-devil!" He shouts.

"Why thank you, dear James. I always have been told that I have a way with words." You say, overly sweetly.

"My name is Jake!" He shouts back.

You turn and look him dead in the eye, showing a boat-load of fake concern. "Is that what they've been telling you? You really shouldn't trust people you barely know, James." You say, then turn and keep walking.

Silence. Finally.

"My apologies Jane, but bugger all!" Not two fucking seconds of silence.

A punch cracks you in the back of your head, which being unprepared snaps forward rather painfully. You turn and grin. "Bugger all indeed, dear James." You say and throw a punch of your own.

It just devolves from there. Him being stronger gives him a considerable advantage. But then you've been in many more fights, and he doesn't think about anything. That puts you two on a roughly level playing field.

You two only break apart when Fredrick gets in your face and threatens you. Then Jake runs off with his tail between his legs. Good riddance, that bastard. Fredrick wraps around you, as per usual, and settles his head by your right shoulder. You're glad he's here, to help keep you under control. Yeah, you're gonna be one big bruise soon. In all truthfulness, Fredrick gotten pretty big since you first found him. You wonder about what kind of snake he is sometimes. Cat said it was odd to see such a big venomous snake. Maybe he's a cross-breed of some sort? You don't really care though, you say he's awesome and just leave it at that.

"You think that there's something weird going on too, right Fredrick?" You ask him. Hey, you talk to yourself all the time! Why not talk to animals?

He coils up the uppermost part of his body. You get the impression thy he's trying to shrug.

"Oh come on! The evidence is all around us!" You say to his blatant disregard of the facts at hand.

He puts his head in front of your face and just looks at you. You get the feeling he's trying to give you the snake equivalent of a deadpan look, but he's a snake so it doesn't really work out.

"Oh don't you give me that look! Okay so it's more of a hunch than anything. But believe it or not my hunches are usually spot on!" You say.

He smiles, as much as a snake can, and does the coil-shrug thing again. How dare he mock you in such a way!

"I'm not crazy!" You say rather passionately.

"Says the girl arguing with a snake." You hear Dirk say from your left. You face him and idly wonder just how long he's been walking next to you. You obviously don't jump out of your skin a little bit.

Either way, time for a snark! "Hey, just because he doesn't agree with me doesn't mean that /I'm/ the crazy one!" You say. You hope that was at least mildly funny. You've found out that You actually like making people happy. Whether it be doing something ridiculous, telling a joke, or just being there, you're willing to so it if it makes them happy. If it makes them not feel what you do.

"- route?" Dirk says.

Wait, what? Oh shit, you just missed what he said. "Sorry, I spaced out for a second there, what were you saying?" You say. You hope that doesn't sound as rude as you think it does.

Did he just smirk? "I was asking what could be so important that it distracts you to the point of walking onto my route." He says.

"Oh. Well I think that there's something weird going on in the village." You say. You hear a series of choppy hisses and glare at Fredrick.

"... Is he laughing?" Dirk asks.

"Yes. He doesn't think that something weird is going on. But I know that I'm right. And I have limbs to boot!" You say and stick out your tongue at the overgrown worm. "Wait I'm on your route? Hmm, I wonder when that happened... Mind if I linger here for a bit? It's better than wandering on my own." You say.

A shrug. "Stay if you want to. So what do you propose is going on that's "weird"?" He asks.

Another shrug, but from you this time. "Not too sure, really. Just... Don't you think it's odd how no one has approached any of us newcomers yet? Well other than Jade, Jane, and Jake. But they were kind of forced into it." You say.

"Not really. We did say that your society is much more violent than ours. They're probably scared of you." He says.

"Well, yeah. But what about the idiots, or the egotistical ones, or the people that want us killed? What about the drunk ones?!" You ask with exaggerated hand gestures.

"They're probably being held back by all the reasonable ones that are terrified of you." Is his rebuttal to your awe inspiring argument.

"Oh... I didn't think of that." Is your elegant response.

"See there's nothing weird going on." He says.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm probably just imagining things again. My imagination just /loves/ to freak me out and make me worry for no reason." You say.

After that the talking stopped for a while. But the silence was a companionable one. This kind of thing is fairly common with you. You never were a very social person, and being thrown head long onto a world that revolves around social interaction isn't helping with your inexperience in the least. At one point or another Fredrick left and then the two of you left headed off of Dirks route, of course you were spaced out at that time and didn't really notice. You were thinking about something you haven't in a long while: Your possible flush-crush on Dirk. Looking back, you're not flushed for him. Not even slightly. Sure he's attractive, but you don't pity him in the least. If anything, you envy him. After a while your consciousness surfaces, you figure it out, and notice where you were. Or at least where you think you were. It was a part if the forest the you actually prohibited yourself from going anywhere near. See, this is where the sea-dwellers live. Well, where they live on the other world that is. You suppose that it's not all that dangerous anymore. Even if Miss Piexes is living there now it wouldn't be nearly as bad. But then she's usually on patrol like you're supposed to be at this time of night. Wait... The night patrol is made up of mainly trolls (and you), so why is Dirk on the night patrol?

"Hey Dirk?" You say, breaking the silence.

"I'm not telling you where we're going." He says.

"Okay, I kinda figured that. But... You're a human." You say.

"Yeah, last time I checked. That a problem?" He says

"Well, yes! Aren't humans supposed to be not-nocturnal? Whatever that word is?" You say

"It's called being diurnal and yes. What exactly are you going on about?" He asks.

"If you're diurnal then why are you doing the night patrol? Isn't that really fucking up your sleep schedule?!" You ask.

"No not significantly. I was on the night patrol before all this happened. If anything, I'm sleeping better now than I was before." He says. You see his shoulders relax a bit. He's been much more emotive than usual lately. Compared to your average person, it's still one hell of a poker-face, but for Dirk... It's pretty weird.

"So where exactly are you taking me anyway?" You ask.

"Gamzee's been looking for you." He says.

"Well that's an abrupt subject change if I ever heard one." You say.

"No it's not. You don't want to be found." He says.

"True, but what does that have to do with anything?" You ask.

"Your shift is almost over, and he's waiting for you." He says.

"So... Dirk, are you hiding me?" You ask.

"Yes." He says.

Well that's curious. "But why? You don't even know why I want to stay away from him!" You say.

"You can't have done anything too bad. I'll question your motives later. But I don't think you'll be sleeping in your house, come morning." He says.

"... You still haven't told me where you're taking me." You say.

"Yeah." He says

"... You're not going to tell me, are you?" You ask as more of a statement than a question.

"Blindfolding you would have taken it a step too far." He says.

"Why are you trying to surprise me?" You ask.

"Call it a gift." He says.

"Okay, why are you giving me a gift?" You rephrase.

"With all the shit you've been through because of me, you deserve much more than this." He says.

"Wait, because of you? How was any of this your fault?" You ask.

"Do you trust me?" He asks.

"... You're being pretty liberal with the subject changes today. But yes, I do." You say.

"How much?" He asks.

"I'd trust you with my life." You say without thinking. Wait. Aw shit.

"Good." Is all you hear before the world goes dark.

You panic momentarily. And then you feel his hands on you. "Dirk...?" You ask.

"Yes." You hear directly behind you and far too close for normal.

"Why are you covering my eyes? I need them to see." You say.

"So you won't know where we're going." He says and moves you forward.

You start walking and hope you don't fall off a cliff or something. He must have taken your glasses off, because you don't feel them anymore. "You didn't answer my question." You say.

"I didn't answer most of your questions. Which one did you want answered?" He asks.

"How is any of what happened your fault?" You ask.

"You know, human traditions must seem weird to you guys." He says.

"Not this time, Strider! I'm not dropping it without an answer this time!" You say.

"There are rocks up ahead." He says.

"Dirk..." You say.

He doesn't say anything. Why is he trying to hide this? He's the one who brought it up!

You sigh. "You're going to give me a straight answer one of these days Dirk." You say and drop it. Yeah you lied. Kind of.

"Remember what I said about traditions?" He asks.

"Yes, and it's true." You say.

"One of our traditions are to celebrate our Wriggling days. Or as we call them, birthdays." He says.

"That's almost as absurd as your justice system." You say. So you're one sweep- you mean year (stupid human calendar) older, and one more closer to death. Who cares?

"Humans are insane." You say.

"I think you'll come to enjoy our traditions. Most of the trolls already do enjoy them." He says.

"Yeah, well most of the trolls here knew about them long before I did." You say.

"I'm sure you'll warm up to the idea of Birthday parties." He says.

... Why did that sound ominous? "Dirk." You say.

"I'm not going to tell you." He says.

No. "No. Please tell me that you're not-" You get cut off.

"Be quiet and walk. We're almost there and I'm not telling you anything." He says.

"You'd better not be dragging me to one of your insane celebrations." You say.

"Don't worry I'm not." He says.

Then was all that talk of human insanity just to throw you off? You are so preoccupied with trying to figure out just what the surprise is that you forget to focus on your footing. Less than a minuet later your foot finds a nice little home underneath a root. The rest of your body, however, doesn't like it's choice so much and retaliates by throwing itself towards the ground. Yeah. You tripped. Stupid foot. You are jerked to a stop and you open your eyes. Thorns. Thorns in mud. Less than a foot away from your face.

"Thanks." You say to Dirk.

"We're here anyway." He says.

You right yourself, with his help, and follow him to the forests edge. You see a lake. A gigantic fucking lake. And it's so beautiful! In the past few months, your attraction to water has only grown without deadly sea-dwellers keeping you away. It's frown to the point that you think there wad a mistake and you should have been one of them instead. You're so absorbed in the sight of it that you don't notice Dirk motioning to something. You hear some rustling, but don't think anything of it. It's probably just an animal anyway.

"SURPRISE!" Is yelled by many voices and you damn near jump our of your skin. You turn around, ready for battle, and see Cat and Jade holding a cake. Everyone else is standing behind the two, they're all holding gifts. Except for Karkat. He's just standing there looking awkward. Maybe he's still sore about you breaking up with him.

"Uh..." Is your extremely intelligent response. Needless to say, you look like an idiot right now.

"Happy Birthday Bethy! Er- Wrigglingday! Who cares, let's eat cake!" Cat says.

The next three minuets are spent giving everyone (except John) a piece of cake. You don't have that much of a sweet tooth, so you took a small one. You spent the next five to ten minuets trying to piece together what just happened. Dirk was in on it and gave you some background on it. Somehow they got both Jake and Karkat to show up and be nice. But what really confuses you is how they knew it was today. You never told anyone. That you can remember at least. You ask Cat about it.

"Oh that's an easy one. Gamzee told us." She says.

"I thought you were terrified of him?" You ask.

"Only when he's being creepy and scary." She says

You nod. Makes sense that he would tell them. Wait. That means he's here. Shit shit shit. You don't want to even look at that guy right know. Shit. Sure the whole "He's going to kill you" thing would have been forgotten about and you two would be friends again, if he hadn't tried to kill you. He actively hunted you down, and when he found you he attacked you like you were torturing Tavros! So no, that guy is dead to you. It would have been fine if he'd just half-heartfelt tried to off you! You don't want to talk to him right now. Or preferably ever. Maybe you can get through this thing without that.

You did it! The party is over! They all gave you a bunch of useless junk though. Cat gave you a necklace. Dave gave you a pair of shades and you busted out laughing (you think he's stopped hating you). Kanaya gave you some amazing clothes (you didn't know she was a seamstress). Nepeta gave you a drawing of... Something. Rose and Jade said that they'd teach you how to dance. Roxy gave you a Yo-Yo. Jake and Karkat didn't get you anything but the fact they showed up and aren't trying to piss you off is a miracle in itself. Jane was the one that baked that delicious cake. Feferi didn't know what to get you so she said she'd show you some underwater caves. Aradia gave you some very sharp but thick needles and said you looked like you could use them. Gamzee gave you one of his horns (you left him before anything else could happen). And John told you to close your eyes then put some fake troll horns on a headband on your head. He said that it was so you could finally be a real troll. You told him to close his eyes, then you threw him in the lake. But he laughed, so you're not a bitch. You assume it was Dirk who set this all up, so it makes sense that he didn't give you anything.

Stupid games are played. Stupid songs are sung. The whole thing is a complete waste of time. The party is long over and it's about two or three hours till sunrise. You should be at home right now. You should be asleep right now. But for some reason you're still in the clearing, and what's even stranger is that you can't stop smiling. Then Gamzee came up to you.

"Ain't nothing better than a good party. Makes everyone all warm and happy." He says.

You scowl. "Cut to the chase, what do you want?" You snap at him. He looks hurt. You don't care.

"I wanna apologize. What I did was all kinds of wrong, and nothings gonna change that. But I hope you can for give me." He says.

"If you knew it was wrong them why did you do it?" You bitterly ask.

"I didn't have a choice! We were all supposed to kill you on sight." He says.

"Yeah, that's kind of a given. I figured you would. But the least you could have done is /act/ like you didn't want to!" You say.

"I know I hurt you. You probably hate me right now." You glare at him. "But I don't wanna be your enemy Beth. Can't we just put this behind us?" He asks.

You pause. Forgive and forget. A human concept. You don't want to. Condesce knows you don't want to. But then, he's too deadly for you to take on as an enemy. You'll never be able to trust him with anything. But you suppose he's a decent guy.

"I won't be your enemy. But there's no way in Hell I'll be your friend." You say.

He smiles and starts to say something else, but you glare at him again and you damn near ready to tackle him. "Leave, before I forget why I'm letting you live." You say. A wince. A pause. He leaves. You don't know whether to sigh or growl. So you somehow do both.

"Irritated?" Dirk asks from somewhere behind you. He does this sneaking up on you thing so much that you're not even surprised that much anymore.

"Are humans insane?" You rhetorically ask.

"What was it?" He asks.

You shrug like you couldn't care less. "He was my friend, he did something, now he's not." You say.

"And you're pissed." He says

"And I'm pissed." You repeat, a smile tugging at your lips.

You shake your head and start walking back to your cabin. It's still that previously old an abandoned one Rose found for you. It's a good long distance from both the human village and the trolls make-shift one. As you said before, you're not a very social person. You like your privacy. You a Dirk walk in silence to your house. At one point Fredrick comes back, and he gives you a present! It's a bark blue choker with a stunning obsidian stone in the center. Where and how he got it, you haven't the slightest clue. All you know is that you're smiling again. You thank Fredrick and try to start talking with Dirk. His replies are short and he seems distracted, so you eventually give up. You reach your house and are about to bid him goodday, when he decides to speak.

"You know, I never gave you a present. And I'm not about to be upstaged by a snake." He says.

You laugh. "Weren't you the one who decided to throw me a party in the first place?" You ask.

"Actually that was Feferi's idea. Now about that present. Close your eyes." He says.

You obey without a second thought. "You're not going to put fall horns on me are you?" You jokingly ask.

"No. Trust me, this is completely different." He says.

You wait. And wait. And wait. You wait for so long that you start to think he left. Then you wait some more. You think he might be pranking you. It's not that good of prank that's for sure. Then he kisses you. It's short. You don't even have time to react. You open you're eyes, only to find that he's left. You're stunned. You walk into your house and sit down on your bed. Dirk just kissed you. Fredrick comes up to you and looks slightly worried, for a snake. A person you don't have any red /or/ black feelings for just kissed you. You fall over in your bed and decide to sleep. Dirk just kissed you.

Shit.


	14. Chapter 14

Authors note: So yeah, if you couldn't tell by now this whole thing is just one big beta. Once it's completed I'll touch it up and post it elsewhere. Also, it's a very real song.

Chapter fourteen: of early risers, death threats, and slave drivers.

Your name is Cassidy Vanbrunt, and you're sad and kinda confused but really worried. You're sad because your crush on Feferi isn't going away anytime soon. You're confused because you thought Jane was straight, and suddenly committing like that doesn't seem like her! But then you were wrong about her being a lesbian... That ties back in nicely with your confusion. The bulk of your confusion is mainly because you hate Nepeta. No thats not it, you **_hate_** Nepeta. You've never truly hated anyone before! And then this girl walks up and... You may or may not have had some questionable thoughts about her. But you're mainly worried because of Bethy! You thought she would like all your friends, but she **_hates_** Jake! That and... Well she's really shy and sensitive, even though she acts like she doesn't care about anything very much. You're concerned about her being part of the village now and that almost everyone is terrified of her. The other trolls are used to humans and Karkat... Is Karkat, so you aren't really worried about any of them.

You get out of bed and look at the setting sun. You adjusted your sleep schedule so you could spend more time with your new friends. But now that most of your friends are guarding the village... it's not really working. You do get to spend time with them, just not nearly as much as you want to. You get dressed and put on your make up and think about if you should go back to being awake at daytime. You finish, still undecided, and go to the door. You open it and find Bethy standing there looking anxious and awkward. The fact that she's there at all worries you, she never gets up this early! Ever!

"Cat I need to talk to you about something." She says and just walks past you while shaking her head.

"Um, okay. Come on in. What is it?" You ask.

"Well, Uh... You know how I used to be interested in a flushed romance with Dirk?" She asks.

Flushed... "Yeeaah." You say.

"Well, you know how before I figured out that I wasn't flushed for him at least?" She asks.

"Yeeeaaah." You say.

"Well, yesterday after the party he kind of came up to me and..." She trails off.

"Aaannnd..?" You prompt leaning forward.

"Well, he kind of... Sort of... Might of... Kissed me." She says mumbling the last part.

Wait, but... "But, you don't like him..." You say.

She nods and starts dragging her bottom lip across her upper teeth.

"So... Why not just tell him to back off?" You ask.

She looks up. "Cat, I may be blunt but I'm not heartless!" She says. "Gah, I think you squishy morons are starting to rub off on me."

"So… He likes you, but you don't like him. And you want to tell him, but you don't?" You ask.

"I don't wanna hurt him!" She says.

You laugh for a few seconds until you realize that she wasn't telling a joke. "Bethy, you can't hurt Dirk, it's not possible. He's like a brick wall when it comes to emotions. Dave too! I wouldn't be surprised if this was all some bet between them." You say.

She looks at you like you just said the sky was brown. "You… Really don't get this kind of stuff, do you." She says.

"Bethy, I've been friends with them for a long time. I know them." You say.

"True, but that doesn't mean that you're close to them. You really don't like Dave and you said yourself that Dirk is emotionless. But you do know that those are just defense mechanisms, right?" She asks.

"What are? The fact that Dave's an ass?" You ask.

"Yes. And the shades. And the nonchalance. And the poker face. And the irony at times too." She says.

"Really? You know all that after only three months?" You ask.

"Defense mechanisms aren't hard to spot, and everyone has them." She says.

"What about Roxy?" You challenge.

"Being drunk." She says.

"Jane?" You ask

"She's shy." She says

"Jake?" You ask

"Fighting." She says

"John!" You say, playing your trump card. There's no way he has one.

"He's a goof." She immediately says.

"Wait, what were we talking about?" You ask.

"How to let Dirk down without hurting him." She says.

"Oh, uh, don't be mean to him!" You say.

She hangs her head. "Thank you, Sherlock." She says.

"Well, I don't really know how to deal with Striders!" You say.

"Oh, right. In any case your romance system is fucked to Eris and back." She says.

"Sorry that I'm not much help Bethy. Maybe you should… Ask Jake!" You say. She looks at you with something resembling a mix between horror and revulsion. "He dated Dirk before, so maybe he could help you." You explain.

Now it's just revulsion. "Dirk was actually _flushed_ for that- that **moron**?!" She asks.

You nod. "Yes. They were actually a really cute couple." You say.

"Right." She says drawing out the word. "Anyhow, I think I'll go ask Miss Piexies to fulfill her promise to me. Wanna come with?" She asks you.

"But Bethy, I can't swim!" You say. You really would like to go. Feferi is always so pretty while she's swimming. But you'd just be dead weight.

"Cat, you do realize that we can teach you how to swim, right? And, who knows, if you play your cards right then you might just get her to kiss you!" She says with a giggle and a wink.

You're pretty sure that you blush at that. "Bethy!" You say.

She just turns her giggle into a chuckle. Says "I'll swing by when the time comes around." And walks out. Looking much less anxious than she did when she came in.

You purse your lips. Maybe you should learn how to swim. After all, your crush is about half fish. If your relationship with her ever goes anywhere (which you sorely hope it does) it'll be pretty awkward if you don't. You sigh and exit your house. Maybe taking a walk will help calm your mind. You head to one of your favorite paths, it cuts kinda near the rip but you don't really mind. All the trolls are either working or still asleep, so no one disturbs you on your way. Yeah, maybe this is just what you need. A nice night to yourself. In fact, you think you should sing! Singing always lifts your spirits!

"Sowoneul malhaebwa! Ni mamsokae itneun jageun ggoomeul malhaebwa, Ni meorieh itneun isanghyungeul geuryuhbwa. Geurigo nareul bwa-"

Genie by Girls generation. Always a good song.

"Hey." You hear someone say to you, interrupting your singing. "Hey! Human girl!"

You look around and see a troll not too far off.

"Yeah, you! Get over here!" She says

You hesitate. You don't know this troll. They do have a reputation for killing. But if that one wanted to kill you, wouldn't she try to be sneaky about it? You speed-walk over to her.

"Finally!" She says and pulls you through a hedge and into an area with just one huge tree in it. Wait a second, isn't she-

"Names Vriska by the way. You're in danger Cassidy." She says with a sly smile.

"How do you know my name?" You ask, slightly disturbed.

"Same way I know that you have a crush on Feferi of all people. I'm telepathic." She says.

"That's... Kinda creepy." You say. Don't think of anything embarrassing! You want to make a good first impression! Uh, puppies! And kittens and ducklings! And Fredrick! Wait Fredrick? You see the snake on one of the lower branches on the tree. "How'd you get up there?" You ask him.

"Hey, I'm talking to you! This could save your life and you get distracted by a stupid snake!" She says.

"You never told me how I was in danger! Or will be, or something." You say.

"Yeah, you're gonna get your ass whooped by a god." She says.

Your mind goes blank. She starts laughing, but it sounds more like a cackle to you.

"But... Why?" You ask.

"He's the god of death, it comes with the job." She says with a shrug, like this is an everyday occurrence.

"But... But I can't die yet!" You say, panicking slightly.

She laughs again. "You're not gonna die_ right now._ No, he's gonna do it later and have one of your little friends do it." She says.

"Why are you telling me this?" You ask.

"'Cause you're not supposed to die yet. Duh." She says.

"So why even tell me about it?" You ask. If you're not supposed to die then why does any of this matter?

"'Cause he's an idiot and people do what they're not supposed to anyway." She says.

"Am I going to die or not?" You ask, thoroughly confused.

She shrugs and grins. "Up to you." She says.

"So then why tell me all this?" You ask.

"To give you an edge and make you an offer." She says.

"What offer?" You ask.

She laughs. "First you need to decide whether or not you want it. Then I'll tell you." She says.

"How will I know if I want it or not if you won't even tell me if it's good or bad?" You ask

She just smiles and waits, probably for your choice. It could be something horrible, but if she wanted you dead then you would be by now, wouldn't you? Besides it could be something amazing! Maybe she'll give you something to protect yourself with. Or she could just be manipulating you into a gruesome death by the hands of your friends. But then you would have died without her meddling in it, right? Right.

"Do I get to change my answer?" You ask.

"Nope." She says.

"Can I come back later and tell you my answer?" You ask.

"No way! What do I look like, some dumbfuck with nothing better to do than wait on you?" She asks rhetorically.

"Alright then… I'll do it." You say.

She smiles. "I'm glad we're on the same page here." She says.

"What did I just agree too?" You ask.

"Simple, I'm gonna teach you how to fight. So you might be able to stand a chance against his assassins." She says.

"What happened to your eye?" You voice the question that's been on your mind for a while now.

She laughs her cackle like laugh again. "I was betrayed by the one person I was closest to. Be careful or you'll end up like me." She says.

Bethy would never do that! Or Feferi! You see Fredrick directly above her with a murderous intent. Or that could just be your imagination acting up again. She looks up at him, and he attacks! Okay, really he just dropped down onto the ground next to her.

"What the hell is with this snake?" She asks

"Oh, that's Fredrick! He's Bethy's pet. But I don't know how he got here. He likes to disappear at times. I think he likes you!" You say.

He slithers away, then almost immediately comes back with the lower part of his tail wrapped around a really big stick. Wait, holy shit that's not a stick, it's that staff you grabbed back at Bethy's house! He makes his way over to you and offers it up.

You take it and say "Fredrick how'd you find this?!" But since snakes can't talk, he just goes on his merry way.

"Don't tell me… That stick is your weapon." She says sounding very unimpressed.

"Yeah! It's a great weapon!" You say only slightly insulted.

"You're a pacifist aren't you." She says.

"Yup!" You say.

"Pussy." She says with a smile. "This might take longer than I thought. Might as well start now then! Let's see what you know." She draws her sword and moves to strike you.

You make a noise somewhere between a squeal and yelp and fumble with your staff. By the time you get your weapon into a defensive position, she already has her sword to your stomach. She takes away her sword and sighs.

"Don't they teach you anything in that tiny village of yours?" She asks.

Is she always this cranky? You hold your staff behind you horizontally and say "We don't really have that much need to fight around here, so they don't teach us more than the basics."

"Well that's pretty dumb." She says.

"Hey it's not like _humans_ are constantly waging war on each other." You say.

"Since when are you a human?" She asks.

"Since always?" You reply.

"Is that a question?" She asks.

"No, I've always been a human." You rephrase. Really, if you weren't human then what _could_ you be?

"If you say so. But if you are then you sure are a weird one." She says with a shrug.

Then she decides to start your training for real. She teaches you some positions that you tell her you already know, but she says that you don't know them well enough. Then she says something about you having a slow reaction time, and when you do react it's inaccurate and clumsy. She decides to fix that by blindfolding you and throwing rocks at you. You think she's just a sadist. She also says that you're too weak and makes you stand there holding your staff horizontally in front of you for what feels like three hours. Once she lets you put your arms down, they feel like they're going to fall off. But you haven't rested for even minuet before she's making you run laps around that giant tree. Not jogging, or just plain running, _sprinting_ laps around it. She didn't let you rest before making you start practice fighting a tree, either. Of course, you apologized to the tree before and after doing this. It went on like that for hours, even though you feel like you've been working for days. Lift, sprint, fight, repeat. After a while she would do something to make your exercises harder, like adding weights, or throwing things at you that you had to dodge. At any time, other than when she was making things harder for you, she was just sitting there and laughing occasionally. But after you fell down and couldn't do anything more than breathe she said that you were done for the night and could go home. You fell asleep there, under the stars, without even realizing it. The next thing you know, you hear a voice through your dreaming haze.

"Hey." It says.

A pause. You think it might have left.

"Hey."

You wish it would go away. You don't want to get up.

"Heeeeeeeey."

You don't want to run and work anymore. Why won't it go away? It starts shaking you.

"No more training, I'm tired." You say.

"Go hoe maiming, lime fired? Cat what are you talking about? You need to get up." The voice says.

"Bethy?" You ask, opening your eyes a bit.

She smiles and offers her hand to help you up. "The one and only. Why in Her reign are you sleeping out here?" She asks you.

You take her hand and wobble once you get to your feet. "I, tired, training, tired." You say, still sleepy and fuzzy headed.

"Training… Is_ that_ what you've been doing out all night?" She asks.

"All night? What time is it?" You ask, slowly returning to the waking world.

"Cat it's nearly dawn. Let's get you back home. Miss Piexes is worried about you." She says and starts leading you away from your nice tree.

You follow her, almost completely awake now. "Why don't you just call her Feferi?" You ask.

"Well, I give my betters the respect they deserve." She says.

"Liar, you're still scared of her." You say in a teasing voice.

"True, but if you've seen even a fraction of what the other Tyranblood can do with Her power then you'd see that it is a completely rational fear." She says.

"What power?" You ask.

"Well, imagine a power. Telepathy, mind control, flight, strength, immortality, anything, and possibly everything. Now imagine that all of those are as powerful as can be, and wrapped up in one person. That's a Tyranblood." She says.

"Oh." You say.

You spend the rest of the trip back imagining all the secret powers Feferi might have. By the time you do get back it's a beautiful dawn. Bethy says that she spent her usual sleeping time looking for your ass, so don't expect her to be up early. You giggle as she walks away.

You move through the house top your bedroom. When you open the door you see a half asleep Feferi on your bed.

"Feferi? You should be asleep right now!" You say. You grab her hand and try to lead her to her recooprecoon.

She gets up and hugs you. "Catfish, where were you? Are you okay? Why do you have so many bruises?" She asks.

"Bruises?" You ask. You look at your arm. "Huh, I wonder when those got there... But don't worry Feferi, I'm fine. I just got a bit caught up in something. Now let's get you to sleep, before you pass out." You say.

She nods but doesn't let go when you start walking. When you get to her room you try to pry her off. She doesn't let go. "Feferi, you need to sleep." You say.

"Will you sleep with me?" She asks.

"... Sure, but why?" You ask.

"You might run off again." She says.

Aaaawwww! "No I won't. But if we're going to sleep in the same bed, it'll have to be my bed. I don't trust that slime." You say.

She nods and not five minutes later she's out cold under your covers. She's so cute.

You open your curtains a little bit and watch the sunrise, sometimes you regret turning nocturnal. So many of the colors you know are gone. But then there are so many other colors that show up at night that you never really got a good look at before. And all your friends are awake at this time too, or can be. And it's not nearly as hot at night. And the waters so warm! Yeah, you don't regret it a bit. You look back at Feferi. You think of Vriska.

You never want to go back to daytime.


	15. Chapter 15

Authors note: Hello to all! Sorry about not updating last week. I managed to get hella sick, somehow, and I'm sure the boatload of school work isn't helping things along either. So if it's worse than my usual caliber of shit, blame one of those. To make up for it I'll try, **_try_**, to get two done next week. No promises. As usual, review! Really I need some feedback here. Oh yeah, and a poll. Who's your favorite character (borrowed characters as I portray them or my OC's), and who's your least favorite? Also, who do you think is the antagonist and where do you think it's going?

Chapter fifteen: of conversing, worrying, and confusion.

Okay, you're going to need to find Jake. But not because you need his help or anything like that! It's just… You've come upon a dead end in your little search for answers… And you figured that you couldn't avoid Dirk forever… And you might as well just see what the bastard has to say and **OKAY FINE YOU NEED HIS HELP.** But that doesn't mean you have to like it. Goddess, he's never gonna let you live this down. If he can actually remember something for more than five seconds. Now… How the hell are you gonna say this so that he won't slap you? 'Hey, Jake. So you know your ex-boyfriend? Well, he's infatuated with me but I don't want him. Any ideas on how to let him down?' Yeah, he'd punch you. Hell, you'd punch you. You just might just, because this is a _fucking waste of time!_ There's no way in hell he'd help you! Wow, you've been using the word hell far too much lately. You should use a different word. A human word should be fun. How about cunt? Yeah, that should do for now.

You round the corner and see the afore-mentioned bastard. Oh and Jane too. And… The leader-guy of the humans? That's curious. Maybe you should… No. Snooping is wrong. _It's wrong. _**Wrong! **Fuck it. You follow behind the strange trio and hope to chaos itself that you don't get caught. Okay so _maybe_ chaos isn't the best choice of entities to put your faith in right now. But it works! So who cares! They don't notice you. Probably because you're being awesome by being as sneaky as Omegaly possible behind them. Oh yeah, you're undeniably awesome.

They had come to the mouth of a cave and just stopped. You think they might be waiting for something… Either that or they've been brainwashed by something that claims to be a higher being to be its minions and are currently receiving instructions via telepathy. But, really now, how likely is that? After waiting approximately forever and a day out of the cave comes… a dude in a sweater. You half want to boo and demand a refund or a hanging. Wait. No, wait. Wait. Wait. Wait, you got this. There's something about that dude. Something strange in relation to his surroundings. Something important. Something that should be obvious. Wait. Wait, no. Wait. Almost there. Wait. Oh! He's a troll! Wait. Fuck he's a troll! An adult fucking troll! In a sweater! Why the fuck is he conversing so not violently with a trio of humans?! Something here is amiss. Also he is lacking one sign. Alright, so you don't either. But that's different! You're not a troll, he _is_ a troll. Not a very fashionable one at that. True you're not very aesthetically inclined, but it's kinda hard to miss his candy-red sweater. Wait… Wait for it… His sweater is red… Pffft. Okay, don't laugh. Don't laugh. If you laugh you'll blow your cover. Why is it important to stay hidden? Shit, don't laugh! Don't. Laugh. If you're right and this dork is Karkats ancestor, which is a huge fucking assumption, then you officially have blackmail for life on him. Yes, you must get closer. Once you manage to stop giggling that is.

"Have you managed to secure her yet?" You hear the troll ask. Holy shit, his voice is all proper but it's obvious that he works on sounding like that. You have to suppress more giggles at the sound of it.

"Killing one of our own isn't a simple thing for us, Kankri." The Boss-man says. Wait, killing? Who?

"As she's been chosen by His holiness she will die one way or some other. As for her being "one of your own" as you put it, you know as well as I do that she isn't human." Kankri says. Pfft, even his name makes you want to laugh.

"True, but if we were to just kill her then the entire village would be in an uproar over it. They see her as one of us and don't want anything bad to happen to her. When we kill her, we will have to make it look like an accident. Even her moirail must suspect nothing." Jane says. Wow. Bitch. Clever bitch. Sure you mindlessly kill, but not your fucking allies! You always had seen her as an open book, but you didn't see this coming. You should keep a better eye on her.

"You _will_ secure her. She will be a sacrifice to the Great One." Kankri said. Don't laugh, this is serious shit.

You think he would have gone on, but apparently they didn't want him to do so. They quickly departed with some lame excuse that he either bought or pretended to buy. Maybe you should... You stay hidden until the trio is gone. You pause. Should you really do this? Yes. You jump out at the troll with one sword drawn. He sidesteps out of the way and you obviously don't stumble and fall over. You turn and have to hold back another laugh. It's like he's trying to actually control himself. A wanna be pacifist! Don't. Laugh. Must. Look. Serious. Okay, this was an incredibly bad idea. He was in the middle of a rant or speech about something or other when your resolve broke (he has a funny voice!) and you had to get the fuck out of there. Before long you're away from him and on the ground struggling to breathe through your laughing. That guy!

"Beth. What're you doing?" You hear someone who sounds suspiciously like John say.

You hold up a hand as a signal for him to wait as you recover the ability to speak. "I'm dying is what I'm doing!" You say once your laughing fit turns into mildly manageable giggles.

"I've _never_ seen you laugh like that! What could be so funny?" He asks. The look on his face makes you want to laugh too.

"I met a really funny guy. He reminds me of Karkat." You say, and deciding that the sitting position would be more comfortable you get up.

"Really?" He says. There's something weird in his voice.

"Quick, say that again!" You command, pointing at him.

"Um... Really? He repeats. The Weird Thing is gone.

"Hmmm..." You've been seeing and hearing The Weird Thing a lot lately in faces and voices respectively. It's affected Dave, Jade, Dirk, Rose, Karkat, and now John! Maybe it's some weird sort of disease... You wonder of it's contagious. You examine his face. He looks confused, but The Weird Thing is there as well. "Hey, have you been feeling alright lately?" you ask while wondering if you should start avoiding him.

"... Yeah. Why?" He asks.

"You hesitated." You say.

"I'm fine!" He says.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much." You say.

"What do you want me to say? That I've been feeling anxious for the past two weeks and have no idea why?!" He says, then immediately after he looks like he regrets it.

"Have you?" You ask.

"... No..." He says.

"Is that a lie?" You ask.

"Weren't you laughing about a funny guy?" He asks.

"Wow. Nice change of subject there. Very subtle. But yes. What of it?" You ask.

"How did he remind you of Karkat? I thought trips didn't have relatives?" He asks.

"It's a long, long story. But in the end it comes out to the fact that trolls have this thing called an ancestor, with whom we share most of our genes." You explain.

"Oh. So they're like parents?" He asks.

You shrug. "The fuck if I know. I still don't quite get the concept of "parents". Why do you ask?" You ask.

"How did this guy make you laugh like that anyway? He must be a great comedian!" He says.

"No I'm just mean. He was just being himself, but I found it to be hilarious! I couldn't spend more than five minuets in his presence without laughing." You say with a smile. "Oh shit, he said something. Something important. Oh yeah, he said that one way or another she will die. Or something like that."

"And you laughed at _that_?!" He says.

"No, but he looks like a dork and has a hilarious voice... Okay so /maybe/ I was tempted to laugh at it. But only because of his funny voice!" You say.

"Okay... But who is "she" and why does she need to die?" He asks in a slightly panicked voice.

"Dude. Calm. I don't know the answer to either of those questions. But I do know that "she" has a moirail, isn't human, and has been accepted into the village." You say.

"We need to find out who she is and keep her from dying!" He says.

"Alright! Keep an eye on Jane." You say.

"But... Jane's a human." He says.

"True." You say.

Then there's silence. You think he's trying to figure out what you mean. You honestly have no idea why you play these games. Other than... No, you really don't know why you do this. Maybe you should stop being so obtuse all the time...

"So... _Jane_ wants to kill her?" He skeptically asks.

"The "want" of it is still up in the air, but she said that she would kill her. Along with your Boss-man-guy and Jake. Jake... Shit, I forgot to ask him!" you say.

"Ask 'im what?" You hear Roxy say behind you.

You obviously don't nearly jump out of your skin with her suddenly appearing like that. "Holy fuck, Roxy! What the hell are you doing here?" You turn around and ask. Wasn't there something about that word you should have remembered? Oh well.

"You dogged the question. Erm, dodged." She says.

"I was going to ask him the question that I was going to ask him. You dodged the question too." You say accusingly.

"Did I? Well, _I _was keepin' an eyes on Janey. What're _you _doin' out here?" She asks.

You pause. "Yeah... What _are_ you doing out here John?" You ask.

"Um..." He says. Huh, The Weird Thing is back.

"He's not who I was talkin' 'bout." She stage whispers to you.

"Wow, you suck at whispering. John?" You say, prompting him to speak.

"I was... Out here looking for Vriska." He says. Damn, The Weird Thing is coming on full force.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." You say.

"Johnny boy~ are you-" She gets cut off by you exclaiming

"Wait wait wait wait, Vriska's here?! When the fuck did that happen?" You ask. No you're no freaking out. 'Cause you don't do that.

"She's been here for about two months, I think. Why are you so upset about it?" He asks.

All you do in response is fall back onto the ground and groan. Roxy looks at you curiously before completing what she was trying to say before.

"You got a crutch on her?" She asks teasingly.

"A crutch? Wouldn't that hurt?" He says.

After that you started tuning them out. There were some key thing that you find very worrying. Why is Vriska here? And /why/ is she taking an interest in John? Or has John taken an interest in her? Then there's this mysterious "she" that is being hunted for some obscure reason. And the fact that two of the J-Quartet, as you've started calling them, along with Leader-boss-man-guy wanting to kill "her". The appearance of an adult troll that you _think_ may be Karkats ancestor. The adult Indigoblood rumored to be lurking around the forest. Then there's the thing about no one approaching you newcomers unless forced to. Oh right, then there's your problem with Dirk. Shit how're you gonna handle this one? Wait, what was Roxy saying? That she was keeping an eye on Jane?

"Roxy!" You interrupt her yet again while sitting back up. What ever you interrupted, it made John blush and start mumbling things you didn't quite catch to himself. "Why were you watching Jane?" Wow that sounded perverted.

"Dirk told me to a loooooooooooooong time ago." She says.

"Well fuck. Anyway, what did you see her do not too long ago near the cave?" You ask.

"I saw her say to some troll guy that she was gonna kill somebody." She says.

"Yes! Do you know who she's going to krill? Fuck, I mean /kill/." You say.

"Nnnnnope!" She cheerily says.

"Damn. John!" You say.

The sound of his name snaps him out of whatever daze he was in. "Yes!" He says.

"Change of plans! Roxy will continue watching Jane and you get to keep an eye on Dad-guy." You say.

"Pffft. You suck at rhyming." Roxy says.

"Yes, yes I do." You smugly say.

Later on, after you've left the other two to do whatever it is that they do, you're pacing again. You can't help it! You /have/ to be moving, especially when you're anxious! Why're you anxious? Simple, you're an idiot. You have absolutely no idea how to break it to him. Emotional and social relations aren't your thing! So you're thinking. And pacing. In your house. Your respite black is six paces wide. Maybe if you do something mundane and commonplace it'll take your mind off things. Counting might work. One, two, three, four, fuck! What're you gonna say? Fredrick, that unhelpful bastard, is just sitting there on your bed and watching you pace. That fucker. Yeah a bed. You never did care much for sopor. It always made you feel like you were drowning for some reason. Besides, beds are comfy. What were you doing? Oh yeah, fuck! Okay, being in such a confined place is starting to get to you. Besides it's almost time for your shift.

You walk outside and Fredrick follows. Just let your mind wander. Wander. Waaaannndeeer. The trees are pretty tonight. Oh look, it's almost a new moon. Just a few more nights. It reminds you of the night you first officially met Cat. You smile. You've really changed since then. Or have you? You'll have to save that debate for later. Oh, Fredrick left again. You wonder where he's always going to. Is it the same place, or is he just hunting? Well, he did get you your choker on one of his little excursions. Your smile gets wider and you touch your gift as you remember that night. Almost everything was perfect. Your back on peaceful terms with Gamzee too. And then there was Dirks gift. It's not that you didn't like it! Actually, your feelings for it are quite the opposite. You just, don't pity him in the least. You don't think you could if you tried. Maybe you should just tell him the plain and simple truth. Sure it would hurt him, but he deserves the truth. Great, now you're preemptively feeling like bitch.

"Have you been avoiding me?" You hear behind you.

"HOLY SHIT!" You screech after jumping about three feet in the air, then turn around. "Good Goddess Dirk, you almost gave me a heart attack. You shouldn't- Er..." You trail off one you get a good look at him. At first glance, it's as if nothings changed. But after a bit, you start to see things. He's pissed. He's hurt. He's lost sleep. Fuck. Now you really feel low. "Look about that kiss. I'm not flushed for you in the least. Sorry." Why the fuck did it come out like that?! Better get out of here before he either kills you or does something to make you want to kill yourself.

"Well that's good. I'm not flushed for you either." He says.

You draw a blank. You turn around to question him, but you seem to have lost the ability to form words. Shit, maybe Cat was right about that bet thing...

"Love isn't the same as pity Beth. I'm not asking to be your boyfriend or matesprit or anything just yet. I just want you to think about what I said." He says. And leaves. He fucking says that and _fucking leaves._

Great now you're more confused than you were before. You see Fredrick slithering after Dirk. That bastard worm! He led him to you! Shit shit shit fuck! Why does everything have to be happening now? What about all that time when shit wasn't happening?! You turn around and keep walking.

You are royally screwed.


	16. Chapter 16

Authors Note: SURPRISE! Yes I know I said Saturday, but I've been missing many updates lately. Mostly thanks to moving and finals and finicky muses, but still. I feel bad about breaking my word. So, these little... Early releases, I'll call them, will be popping up every now and again. Enjoy!

Chapter sixteen: of letters, mysteries, and visitors.

You hurt everywhere. Vriska's been working you like a dog. You think you won't go for her training today. Nope. You can't even get out of bed anyway. You might as well enjoy it. Yes, sleep is good. You lay there in your bed, and let your mind wander. But being half asleep, the thing you end up thinking about is the thing that you're currently looking at. That letter. The one you found when you first came to this house. You've read it over and over again since that first time, but one more time never hurt anyone. You reach over to your bedside table and grab it. Making your sore muscles ache all the more.

_Dear Cassidy, Hello!_

_I know you must be very tired right now, but you really need to read this. I had all these cabins built for those of you that are and are going to be living in them. Don't ask me how I convinced the chief to build them, or how I know you exist when this letter dates back to before your grandmother was born. That's a completely different story in itself, and a long one at that. Your life is going to get very violent after a short period of peace. Many will die in the pursuit of your desire. Your foe is a worthy one. Even for the team you will have assembled by that point in time. You will be the driving force behind the great change that both your worlds will undergo. But before you realize this for yourself, one will try to kill you. When this time comes, question your friend's motives and place your trust in your enemies. The ones you care for most, among many others, will become your assassins. During this time you will meet someone. Someone very powerful. Whether you kill him or befriend him is up to you. Just remember that he deserves it. Oh, and one more thing before I forget; dreams are important. Especially the strange one. Tell your friends about the strangest dream you've ever had! Trust me, it'll help._

_Prophetically yours,_

_Nitya Callaghan._

You wonder who that person was. Why is he telling you this? Or is it a she? What is Nitya talking about when he or she says "your desire"? Your idea that everyone should get along? Yeah, you can see how that would have a large price. You let your hand fall. Desire, desire, dreams, dreams. Desires and dreams. Dreams and desires. It said to tell your friends about your strangest dream. Why the strangest? Does Nitya think you have prophetic dreams? But why should you tell your friends? The last dream you remember having was you being a monkey person and fighting supervillains with your partner Grape Jelly. You don't think that has any meaning, other than being weird. Maybe you'll search through your dream journal. Once your limbs lighten up a bit. Does it have something to do with that guy Vriska said wanted you dead? You don't think he's _really_ a god, but he does sound dangerous. Then Nitya said to beware your friends and trust your enemies. Bethy would never hurt you! But who would your enemies be? There's Dave and Dirk, you three don't exactly see eye to eye. Then there's Nepeta... You're supposed to trust her? Oh, and Gamzee too. Kinda. He scares you at times, and you don't you don't trust him very much. You really don't get why Bethy likes him so much. Is Vriska a friend or an enemy? You're not too sure. You think she's a friend, but she made it pretty clear that she's just your coach. So then should you trust her or beware her? You roll over onto your stomach. You really like Vriska. It's too bad she doesn't want to be friends. You think that behind all her big talk she's just a big softy. But that's just an assumption.

You make a dissatisfied noise when you hear a knock on your front door. Maybe if you just lay here they'll go away. After a few moments the knocking gets more incessant. You sigh and drag your tired limbs away from your little haven. When you get to the door, after opening it, you see a rather distraught looking John.

"Cassidy! You can keep a secret, right?" He says and grabs your shoulders.

"Yeah. Why? Did Dave do something horrible?" You ask and motion for him to come in.

"What? No. Why would you think that?" He asks and sits on the couch.

"Darn. I've been waiting for dirt in him for so long. So what is it?" You ask and sit next to him.

"Yesterday Beth saw Dad and some others talking about killing someone. Now I'm supposed to keep an eye on Dad to make sure he doesn't do anything suspicious. But Dad would _never_ do anything like that!" He says.

"So you think Bethy was mistaken?" You ask.

"Well, no. But there's no way that Dad would just kill some innocent girl! ... Is there?" He asks.

"Did anyone ever say this girl was innocent?" You ask, ignoring his question.

"Actually... I don't think so." He says.

"See. This girl must have done something that the penalty for is death and Dad's just upholding the law." You say.

"Yeah, that has to be it. But then why does Beth want me to keep an eye on him?" He asks.

"Oh, um. I don't know. Maybe... She was thinking that she wasn't innocent and he was doing a bad thing?" You say taking a shot in the dark. "So you want me to keep Dad killing some girl a secret?"

"Yeah, I don't think he'd like it very much if everyone knew." He says.

"So who's he trying to kill?" You ask.

"I don't really know. Beth said that it was a girl but not human who has a moirail. I think." He says.

"It could be Nepeta." You say. You hope it's Nepeta.

"But she's so nice! Has she even committed a crime?" He asks.

"Well, if you think about it like that then it should be Vriska, shouldn't it?" You ask.

"You know Vriska?" He asks.

"Yeah. She's been teaching me how to fight. You know her?" You ask.

"Yeah, I met her not too long ago and we've been meeting up every once in a while. But she's been acting a bit strange lately." He says.

"Really? What do you mean?" You ask.

"Actually, I'm on duty right now so I need to get going soon." He says.

"John Egbert, are you shirking your responsibilities?" You ask.

"Uh, no." He says.

You shake your head and send him off. You're already up so you might as well go see Vriska now. But then again... Maybe you should try to find out who Dad's after. You hope it Nepeta. You get showered and dressed and presentable and step out into the noonday sun. Goddess your sleep schedule is fucked up. It doesn't help that you're an insomniac either. But then Vriska's shenanigans probably has something to do with that too.  
You walk up To the patrolling Karkat, whose busy fiddling with his special shades thingy.

"Goddamn it these things are a piece of shit." He quietly rants.

"You can take them off you know." You say.

"Of course I can fucking take them off. But then I'd end up like Terezi, blind and annoying." He says.

"Well you wouldn't have to wear them if you worked the night shift." You say.

"You think I /want/ to work under that fucking ball of fire that you morons worship?" He asks rhetorically.

"But Karkat, everyone got to choose when they worked." You say.

"Hey! If every single one of those ass-lickers chose to work at night, like every single fucking one of us want to, then the work load would be more unbalanced than fucking Captors personality!" He rants, looking slightly flustered.

"Sure. Anyway, do you know who all has a moirail?" You ask, your original intention.

"Of course I do. But why the fuck do you need to know something like that?" He asks.

"It's because… I can't tell you." You say.

"Wow. What an amazing reason. There's no way I won't be able to tell you now." He says sarcastically.

"Are you going to tell me or not?" You ask.

"Shut the fuck up and I might. There's Nepeta and Equius, me and Gamzee, Tavros and Aradia, I have no fucking clue what the humans are doing, then there's you and Beth. Now why the hell do you need to know." He demands.

"I guess I can tell you some of it. One of the girls you listed is going to die soon." You say. Why did that sound so familiar?

"Oh please. You could say that about any of us. Once Her Condesce finds out that is." He says.

"You think she'll find out?" You ask. You really don't think she's as scary as the trolls make her out to be, but you are pretty scared of her nonetheless.

"Yes." He bluntly replies.

"You're not going to curse and rant about why?" You say questioningly.

"The "why" of it doesn't matter. The fact is; she's going to find out, then she's going to kill everyone." He says.

"Don't be such a pessimist Karkat!" You say.

He turns and points his sickle threateningly at you. "I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist! Don't you have anything better to do than pester me while I'm working?!" He barks at you.

"True, I need to find out whose going to die!" You say and walk away.

You make it about five minutes before you realize that you don't have a game plan. You don't even have a reason to find this girl, other than for curiosities sake. At least you've whittled it down to either Nepeta or Aradia. You don't think it's Aradia. She's way too nice to commit crimes punishable by death. But then again, she did kidnap you. Whether or not she drugged you and set your house one fire, however, you still don't know about. Once you got back it seemed like everyone just up and forgot about it, and Aradia never said anything about it. Anyway, you hope it's Nepeta. But no matter how much you hope, she just doesn't seem to commit crimes like that either. Or at least get caught doing it. Wait, oh no. Bethy's not human and you're her moirail! No, no, no. It /can't/ be Bethy! No. Even if it is her you won't let Dad hurt her.

"Cassidy."

Not after everything the two of you have been through to survive.

"Cassidy."

You feel a hand on your shoulder and come back to Earth.

"Oh sorry Rose. Did you need something?" You ask her.

"Yes, but not for me. For Vriska. She told me to "get you over here even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming." I suggest you go." She says.

"Really? But I wanted a day off! I guess I shouldn't keep her waiting. Thanks for telling me Rose." You say and head off to your house.

Maybe Rose knows about who Dad wants to kill? Since she usually knows about weird things for no reason. But then, knowing her, she wont tell you or will give you some sort of crazy riddle or really obscure hint. Wait, Vriska's calling for you now? It's not even sundown yet! Does she have a pair or special sunglasses too? You'll see when you get there. You walk into your house and start looking for your staff, since it isn't where you left it. This reminds you of the first time you went in Bethy's house and found a whole bunch of weapons in her closet. Didn't you fall asleep on the piano after that? Yeah, then you had a weird dream. What was it about? Snakes? And... Goats? Yeah, you were trying to remember a different dream you had. At least you think that's how that dream came. You don't quite remember the original dream, but you're pretty sure it was the strangest you've ever had. Wait... Wasn't there something... Something important... Nope, it's gone. You grab your staff out of the bathroom and head off to training with Vriska.

In Cassidy's bedroom, on her bedside table, a folded letter flutters in the breeze and falls to the floor. A white sliced hand picks it up and puts it back where it should be.

"She really shouldn't leave the window open. But maybe I should reword this letter of mine. What do you think Fredrick?"

The snake in question merely hisses vehemently in reply.


	17. Chapter 17

Authors note: These notes are getting pretty regular. In any case. I apparently have seven followers. To you seven people: Review. Answer the poll, tell me I'm amazing, give me ideas, correct my grammar/spelling, point out mistakes or words that don't seem like they should be there, or just straight up rant! I don't give a shit what it is, just do it! Do you know how horrible it is to write to an unresponsive audience?! I have fucking seventeen chapters and seven followers! I should have more than just three fucking reviews! And two of them are by the same person! If you don't like the way it's going, tell me! If you want spoilers, tell me! I'll probably give you infuriatingly obtuse hints, but still! Even if you like fucking chocolate covered oranges, tell me that! It has nothing to do with the story. But at least I know you didn't follow this then fucking forget about it! That's all. Fuckers.

Chapter seventeen: of mysteries, purplebloods, and legends.

Good Goddess you're tired. Why are you tired? Excess stress makes you tired. Why are you stressed? Because fuck you, that's why! You're tired and pissed and stressed and you don't want to do jack-shit tonight but that's not going to happen because that's how life fucking is. Eris help the dumbass that decides to piss you off tonight. You grumble and growl as you get out of your bed. You stumble around half awake for the short amount of time it takes for you to get ready. Once you don't look like you fell out of a bush you grab your swords and head out into the world.

The mysterious girl that's going to die, the difference between pity and love, all the adult trolls running around, why the fuck Vriska's here, and trying to stay alive. Goddess why do these thing have to tax you do much? You see a bit of purple flit through the forest. Maybe Gamzee can help you with this. For all his nonsense he's scarily determined and intelligent when he wants to be. You walk over to where you saw the color. He moves away. What, are you gonna have to chase him down? He takes off into the forest. Apparently so. Fuck.

You run into the forest after him. Maybe a little exercise will help your mood. Probably won't, but whatever. A few minutes into the chase he stops trying to not leave a trail and gains speed. You aren't all that fast, but thanks to his little sacrifice you now know where he's going now. Probably. He's heading towards the waterfall. And thanks to all the time you spend "on duty" you know of about a dozen short cuts. So of course, you end up having to wait there for him, sitting on a rock. And of course, while waiting there on your rock you are absolutely positive that you were completely wrong about his destination. You also start thinking about where else he could have been heading. Along with whether or not you had anything for breakfast. You don't think you did. You'll have to fix that later. Needless to say, once the purpleblood is in full view you aren't thinking about any of these anymore. You're thinking about how he's a bit too tall to be Gamzee (a feat not easily achieved) and how Gamzee doesn't usually wear a skeleton suit and how Gamzee doesnt have his mouth sewn shut. But the thing that's taking up most of your mind is fear, dread, and the phrase "Great, what else can go wrong?" Yup, you've found the adult that's been skulking around.

You try to say something, but then his hand is over your mouth and he's motioning for you to be quiet. For some reason or another, this small thing sends you over the edge and suddenly you're too pissed to care about anything. You bring your foot up and knock the air out of him. Taken by surprise he doubles over. You take the opportunity to draw your blades and try to end him. Needless to say, he dodges and your swords hit air. In the next three seconds you're disarmed and pinned on your back. He a quick fucker, that's for sure. Somehow your glasses were knocked askew, effectively making your glare look stupid. Oh well, you were going to die anyway. You're about to bark at him when he covers your mouth again. You don't know what you were going to say though, probably something stupid. He puts his finger to his lips in a shooshing motion again. Now the only thing holding you down is the light pressure from his hand. But you don't get up. For one he's right above you. For two... He hasn't tried to hurt you yet. Which is strange. And you have little to no control over your curiosity.

You suppose you'll go along with it. Not like you can't. You cock an eyebrow, because you have no fucking clue what's going on. As if in answer to you, he points in a direction above your head and takes his hand away from your mouth. Now, should you look and bare your neck to him, or attack? You pause, then look. You don't immediately feel cold steel or claws on your neck and warm blood gushing out, so you suppose you made the right decision. You see trees. You look harder. You see a faint light bobbing through the woods. A traveller? At this time of night? Oh wait, it's blue. Oh shit, a will o' wisp?! It kind of looks like it's hesitating there... You look back at the troll above you. You point at it, then him, then cock your head to the side like you usually do when questioning people. He nods and drags his hand across his neck. It's after him, and it'll kill him if it finds him. Dandy. You don't really care enough to ask how this came about.

You make a shooing motion and he gets off you. You get up and you're about to leave this guy to his running when he stops you. He points to the wisp then to you and drags his hand across his neck again. No shit, that's why you're going the other way. You point in the opposite direction then wave goodbye and start walking. You don't care. He can suffer by himself. You don't care. He doesn't need your help. You don't care if he'll die. He's a stranger. You can't trust him. You don't care. Oh, who're you kidding. This situation is far too interesting for you to pass up. You look back at him. He's watching you. He motions for you to go already. You roll your eyes and wave for him to come with you. He glances back at the wisp. Then nods and starts following you. With only slight hesitation. You pick up your swords and head back to your cabin. If you took him to the other trolls, well let's just say he wouldn't be well received.

The way back is long. And silent. And long. Did you mention long yet? Eris, this is getting on your nerves. And he's staring at you. You can fucking feel it. You finally get to your house, and you feel that the will o' wisp is far enough away that you can speak. So you open the door and say

"Get in here."

But he just looks at you like you told him to cartwheel naked. You roll your eyes.

"What do you want to stay out there and go blind in the morn? Being a blind mute would suck even more than this." You say.

Now hes just looking at you like you're stupid. And you'd have to agree with him. That was one shitty argument.

You roll your eyes and say "I've got food."

He starts signing to you all rapid-fire like a fucking machine gun, but you hold up your hand to stop him.

"I don't know sign language." You say. You half think that he doesn't either.

He looks irritated. He points to you, then to him, then makes the motion you've come to mean 'death' for him.

Now you're irritated. "I tried to kill you before, but we both know how well that little endeavor turned out. The only way I could take you would be in your sleep. But unlike most of the dip-shits in existence, I'm not that much of an ass-hat!" You half rant.

He cocks an eyebrow, then points to you. Okay, that could mean a lot of things.

"Why am I doing this?" You ask. He nods.

You think for a second. He could just as easily off you in your sleep as you to him. Or at anytime really. He'd be taking up space and eating your food and being annoying. Yet your inviting him in. You would blame the humans, but really you've been like this for as long as you can remember.

"My reasons are my own." You say.

He points to you and shrugs, with a knowing look on his face.

"Of course I know why I'm doing this." You kind of snap.

He chuckles through his nose. With sound. Okay, guess he wasn't born mute. But then if he was he wouldn't be around to tell the tale.

You hold back a smile. "You comin' in here or not?" You ask and jerk your thumb over your shoulder.

He smiles and walks past you, through the door, and onto the couch. By the time you get in there, he's already out cold. You take the time to get a better look at him. He looks like shit. Probably something like you did when you first cane here. Like he hasn't slept for far too long. Like he hasn't eaten in a month. Only, he doesn't look like he'd rip your head off for sneezing in his general vicinity. And he has a shit load more hair. It looks like it hasn't been cared for in a while as well as the rest of him. In other words, he stinks and is dirty. His face paint is inverted compared to Gamzee's, and smeared or completely gone in some places. You wonder if you can help with that... Your eyes fall to his lips. It doesn't look like the wounds ever properly healed. You wonder how it happened. No, that's probably going too far. Wait, how does he eat? ... You'll leave that question for later. You start searching for his sign. Your eyes fall upon his codpiece and you go into shock for a bit. It's the same as Gamzee's. What the- How did- Who- Fucking Eris... You were joking about the Karkat and Kankri thing. But there's no denying the relation between these two. Should you be terrified?

You get up and walk away. Then return with a big ass blanket you found in your Closet of Mystery where you end up finding everything you need in times like this. When you are positive that you have nothing that would help. You put the blanket on the back of the couch. It's fairly windy in this area, so even though it's summer it can still get cold for those of skin and bones like him. And you like to keep it cold anyways. You fare much better in cold climates than hot ones. But that's not to say that you'll go live in an igloo on the ice. Though it does mean that there's no way in hell you're going south. Willingly at least. You go back out on patrol. You'll question him later. You feel a hand on your shoulder and obviously don't jump out of your skin. You turn around, obviously not slightly scared, and see Gamzee.

"Heya Beth. How're things goin for ya? Haven't seen you in a while." He says, looking slightly sad. Okay so you've been avoiding him. Somewhat. But more importantly, should you tell him?

"Oh yeah, I was looking for you earlier. I thought that you could help me with a few questions I've been trying to answer. Think you could help?" You ask.

"I'm all ears." He says.

"Alright, first off there's a girl that's going to die and I want to find out who. She's not human, has been integrated into human society, and has a moirail. Any ideas?" You ask.

"... I don't think any of us 'ave been integrated. Not many humans get involved with us, ya know?" He says.

"True." You say.

There's a pause while you both are contemplating it. At least, you think he's contemplating.

"What about Catsis?" He asks.

"What, like she might be the girl to die? No way. Cat's a human." You say.

"She is? You learn something new everyday." He says.

"Right." You say, drawing out the word. "In any case, onto the next one. I've been seeing and hearing about a couple adult trolls in the area. Any idea what that's about?" You ask.

"Well they ain't for Her Condesce." He says.

"How ya figure?" You ask.

"They wouldn't wait to start killin." He says.

"Well that's a load off my mind. You see any will o' wisps around lately." You say.

"Ain't those just fairy tales?" He asks.

"Well if you do see one, it'll probably try to kill you. Any idea why Vriska's here? And as a secondary question, you think we can scare her off?" You ask.

"Vriska's here? Must be 'cause she wants something. If we can scare her off... I don't got any idea." He says.

"Well, we'll figure it out sooner or later. Hopefully before it's too late. So... Yeah." You say.

"That all your questions?" He asks.

"Maybe. I'm not sure if I really want to ask this last one." You say.

"Go on girl, I don't judge. Is it a secret or something?" He asks.

"Well, not really. See... I don't know... Someone asked me... Listen, I was told that pity and love weren't one and the same. Think you can explain it to me?" You ask. Then feel like shit a second later. You hate having to ask for help. You also hate how pathetic you are for not being able to figure it out on your own.

"Oh that's an easy one. Pity is when ya want to take care a someone. An' love is when ya would do anything for someone." He says.

"That's... A very simplified version of pity. I'm guessing the same goes for love." You say.

"But it's true." He says.

"... Okay. You got me there." You say.

"That ain't all that's on your mind now is it." He says.

"True. There is something else. But I'm not too sure how to react to it yet. So it would be rather useless for me to tell you as of yet." You say. Yes, you're still in shock about that other troll. Not as bad as when you first found out, but still.

"In that case, I got a question for ya." He says.

That's curious. "Shoot." You say.

"What are ya gonna do once it's all over?" He asks, sounding worried and serious.

"Once what's all over? The hiding? The mysteries? What?" You ask.

"Once we don't have to hide anymore." He says.

You shrug. "I figured we'd all be hiding until death. But I suppose I'll go on like I always have, whether in hiding or not." You say.

"And how's that?" He asks.

"Reacting to whatever situation I'm put in." You say.

"Where will ya live?" He asks.

"Uh..." You elegantly say. "I suppose... I'll have to wait until I have a choice to choose. I'll need more time to think anyhow." You say.

"I hope ya decide to stay." He says.

You come to the area where your and Gamzee's path separate. A small nod. Your alone again. Heh, hope. Hoping never did you any good. You have no hope anymore. You wonder about that will o' wisp. It's not the only one you've seen. No one else you've met seems to see them. Other than that adult troll. You always lumped them in with the humans, before you saw the portal. Now you just don't know. Maybe you'll ask Cat later. Or not. Depends if you remember. But, the strange thing about that one was the fact that it was supposedly violent. All the others you've seen where just there. Sometimes they'd ask questions, like they thought they were trolls or something. Yeah, you should ask someone, mayhaps Terezi, about this. Terezi. You're guessing she knows all about this world. You can probably trust her to not expose you to Her Condesce. Not Gamzee though. He doesn't see the wisps. At least he helped you with your problems though. Kind of. Mainly he just confused you. Especially with the whole love and pity thing. You know you've felt pity before and you know what it is. It's when you see a weakness in another, but instead of wanting to take advantage of that weakness and kill them you want to protect them from those who do want to kill them. And Gamzee said that love is when you'd do anything for someone. How is that not the same thing?! But apparently it's not. Because both Dirk and Gamzee say so. Probably the other members of that weird little group as well. If you were stupid or desperate enough to ask them that is. So what the fuck is love, and how does it differ from pity? ... Okay, maybe you should just... Ask Dirk to explain it. Since he apparently has it for you.

Fucking Aneris this is complete bullshit. You need to be thinking about important things. Like why the hell did you let Gamzee's ancestor into your house?! Or why the fuck Vriska's here! Or how the fuck you forgot about your need to eat again. Or HOLY SHIT! You stop dead in your tracks when you see that will o' wisp from before not too far off. You know it's the sane one because fuck you! And it also has that same weird hazy glowy thing around it. Kind of looks like a body. You're about to get the fuck out if there, when you realize that faint whisper you've been tuning out is it talking. You try to get a better look at it. Because even if it'll fucking kill you, you always have to find out more. You finally get a better view and fucking shit.

It's talking to Aradia.


	18. NOTICE

**IMPORTANT NEWS:**

**The author of this fic has discontinued it and the final version can be found on under the same name. Thank you for understanding.**


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